Paramount and Skydance Near Merger Deal

Just weeks after the Paramount’s controlling shareholder and Skydance scuttled their talks about a potential deal, the two media companies have tentatively agreed to a merger.

For months, Paramount’s controlling shareholder and Skydance sought to seal a merger that would transform the media industry, before those talks ground to a sudden halt in June. Now, just weeks later, the two sides have reached a preliminary deal to merge, four people familiar with the negotiations said.

The agreement will still have to be approved by a special committee of Paramount’s board of directors, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as the talks resumed.

If they win that approval, the deal will combine Paramount — the parent company of CBS, MTV and Nickelodeon — and Skydance, the up-and-coming movie studio that helped produce “Top Gun: Maverick,” into a new giant in Hollywood.

An agreement would be a changing of the guard in the media world, as legacy companies like Paramount struggle with the decline of cable TV and with streaming services that bleed cash.

The deal is expected to offer Paramount a 45-day “go shop” period in which it can talk to other suitors about a potential deal, three of the sources said. The billionaire Barry Diller and his digital media conglomerate, IAC, have expressed interest in National Amusements, as has Edgar Bronfman Jr., the media and finance executive, and Steven Paul, the Hollywood executive best known for his work on the “Baby Geniuses” franchise.

The Paramount board committee will now evaluate whether those new terms will be sufficiently palatable for shareholders.

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