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☆ Sony and Apollo’s Plan for Paramount: Break It Up
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Benjamin Mullin | Lauren Hirsch | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Shari Redstone helped build Paramount Global into a sprawling media empire, but if Sony Pictures Entertainment and private-equity giant Apollo Global Management succeed in acquiring it, they plan to break it all up, according to three people familiar with the matter. Paramount Pictures — home to blockbusters like “The Godfather,” “Top Gun” and the “Mission Impossible” franchise — would be combined with Sony’s existing business. They have not yet outlined this plan to Paramount or its advisers. CBS and Paramount have been controlled by the Redstone family for decades, since the media mogul Sumner Redstone assembled the sprawling conglomerate in a series of audacious deals. His daughter, Shari Redstone, championed a 2019 deal to reunite it through a merger with CBS, and remains Paramount’s controlling shareholder.

Persons: Shari Redstone, SpongeBob, Sumner Redstone Organizations: Paramount, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Apollo Global Management, CBS, MTV, Paramount Pictures, Sony

☆ Why Paramount's problems should worry the rest of the media giants
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Paramount is in trouble: The one-time media giant's ad sales are plummeting, and so is its stock price. This week, the day after the company broadcast the Super Bowl to a record-setting number of viewers, it announced companywide layoffs. AdvertisementBut why should you, a person who doesn't work at Paramount, care about the future of the company? But even under the best-case scenario, it would be hard for Paramount or any other traditional media company to survive the transition to streaming and digital. Which is why two of the biggest traditional giants — Time Warner and Rupert Murdoch's Fox — took the opportunity to sell most of themselves in 2016 and 2017.

Persons: Lucas Shaw, they're, Shaw, Sumner Redstone, Redstone's, Shari, — Time Warner, Rupert Murdoch's Fox — Organizations: Paramount, Bloomberg Businessweek, Hollywood, Disney, Warner Bros Discovery, — Time Locations: Silicon Valley, China, Hollywood

☆ Why Shari Redstone is trying to sell Paramount — and why she needs the right deal
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-03 | by ( Alex Sherman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

When Redstone's father, Sumner Redstone, the founder of National Amusements, died in 2020, Shari Redstone inherited his shares. Paramount Global has a market capitalization of nearly $10 billion and about $13 billion of net debt. If she agrees to sell either National Amusements or all of Paramount Global, she'll need buy in from other investors. Talks are further along with Redstone regarding NAI than they are with Paramount Global, two of the people said. Paramount Global charges $5.99 per month for Paramount+ with advertising.

Persons: Shari Redstone, Mike Blake, it's, David Ellison, Byron Allen, SpongeBob, I'm, National Amusements Shari Redstone, Brendan Mcdermid, Redstone's, Sumner Redstone, Shari, John Malone, Bob Bakish, It's, Banker Byron Trott, Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, Skydance, Spokespeople, There's, CNBC's David Faber, Bakish, Jim Cramer Organizations: National Amusements, WSJ Tech, Reuters Paramount Global, Paramount, Paramount Global, Skydance Media, Paramount Pictures, CBS, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Hollywood, Allen, Co, Sun, Reuters, Amusements Inc, National, Warner Bros, Discovery, CNBC, Comcast, NBCUniversal, Paramount Global's, Amusements, U.S, Disney, Charter, CNBC Paramount Global, Viacom Locations: Laguna Beach , California, Israel, Sun Valley , Idaho, Wells Fargo, America, Berkshire, NAI, Skydance, U.S

☆ Jesse Armstrong Still Has ‘a Lot of Sympathy’ for the Roys
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( Alexis Soloski | More About Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

There’s some torque applied to the characters and the situations, which reminds me of comedy, but it isn’t always a comedy. I guess that’s maybe the mortality. Maybe I could try to elicit the audience’s sympathy for someone, but I wouldn’t want to with this show. It wasn’t like, Oh, let’s try and push people away or draw them in. But if it could happen or would happen, we’d always say, let’s do it.

Persons: isn’t, I’d, Nick Britell, Robert Maxwell, Rupert, Murdoch, Sumner Redstone, let’s, we’d Locations: British

☆ Paramount's Shari Redstone is open for business, but business may not be open for her
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-22 | by ( Alex Sherman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Paramount Global 's controlling shareholder is open to a merger or selling the company at the right price, according to people familiar with her thinking. Spokespeople for Redstone and Paramount Global declined to comment. Paramount Global's market value was below $8 billion as of Friday. Discovery could merge with Paramount Global, though putting together Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures may hold up deal approval with U.S. regulators. Paramount Global isn't actively working with an investment bank on a sale, according to people familiar with the matter.

Persons: Shari Redstone, David A, CNBC Shari, Jon Miller, SpongeBob, Guggenheim, Michael Morris, Morris, Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, Bob Bakish, Bakish, Wells, Steven Cahall, Cahall, CNBC's David Faber, Lina Khan, Laura Martin, haven't, Simon, Simon & Schuster, Sumner Redstone, NAI, Jim Cramer Organizations: National Amusements, Paramount Global, Allen & Company Sun Valley, Grogan, CNBC, Paramount, Redstone, Integrated Media, Advancit, Paramount Pictures, CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET, Showtime, NFL, Champions League, Viacom, Berkshire, Paramount Global's, Tech, Apple, YouTube, National Football, Federal Trade, Big Tech, Comcast, NBC, Fox, Disney, Needham & Co, Netflix, Bain, Co, Warner Bros, Sky, Scripps, Discovery, Simon &, MSD Partners Locations: Sun Valley , Idaho, Los Angeles , California, U.S

His son, Lachlan Murdoch, will become the sole chairman of News Corp and continue as the chair and CEO of Fox, the companies said on Thursday. The transition solidifies Lachlan's role as the leader of the media empire, putting to rest questions of succession within the Murdoch family. Lachlan was appointed CEO of the new Fox Corp. Murdoch controls News Corp and Fox Corp through a Reno, Nevada-based family trust that holds a roughly a 40% stake in voting shares of each company. The shares in Fox and News Corp owned by Murdoch’s children through the trust are a combination of both classes of shares.

Persons: Rupert Murdoch, Rafael Nadal, Kevin Anderson of, Mike Segar, Lachlan Murdoch, Murdoch, Lachlan, Fox, Brian Wieser, James, Chloe, Grace, Wendi Deng, Jonathan Miller, Sumner Redstone, Ted Turner, John Malone, Miller, Helen Coster, Aditya Soni, Dawn Chmielewski, Krishna Chandra Eluri, Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Nick Zieminski Organizations: Fox News, Fox Corp, News Corp, Fox, Dominion, Systems, Wall, Walt Disney Co, Lupa Systems, Corp, Thomson Locations: York, U.S, Kevin Anderson of South Africa, Australia, United States, American, Reno , Nevada, London, New York, Bengaluru, Dawn, Los Angeles

☆ Keach Hagey — Reporter at The Wall Street Journal
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Keach Hagey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Keach HageyKeach Hagey is a reporter at The Wall Street Journal’s Media and Marketing Bureau in New York, where she focuses on the intersection of media and technology. Her investigation into the inner workings of Google’s advertising-technology business won recognition from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (Sabew). Previously, she covered the television industry for the Journal, reporting on large media companies such as 21st Century Fox, Time Warner and Viacom. She led a team that won a Sabew award for coverage of the power struggle inside Viacom. Before joining the Journal, Keach covered media for Politico, the National in Abu Dhabi, CBS News and the Village Voice.

Persons: Keach, George Polk, Gerald Loeb, “, Sumner, ” Organizations: Journal’s Media, Marketing Bureau, Facebook, Google, George, George Polk Award, Business, Beat, Society for, Century Fox, Time Warner, Viacom, CBS, HarperCollins, Politico, Village, Stanford University Locations: New York, Abu Dhabi, Irvington, N.Y

☆ Mission Impossible: Paramount reckoning
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Jennifer Saba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

NEW YORK, July 5 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Paramount Global’s (PARA.O) predicament is worthy of its successful “Mission: Impossible” franchise. Over the past year or so, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N) has bought and increased its stake in Paramount to about 15%. Without the funding, her closely held firm might have needed to pledge more of its Paramount stock against a loan. Streaming service Paramount+ is similar to Netflix, whose enterprise is worth 5 times next year’s estimated revenue. “Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One,” from Paramount Pictures, opens in movie theaters on July 12.

Persons: Shari Redstone, Looney, Walt Disney, Sumner, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, Goldman Sachs, Byron Trott, Rudolph Valentino, Mae West, Marx, Trustbusters, Martin Davis, Sumner Redstone, Simon, Schuster, Walt, Jeffrey Goldfarb, Sharon Lam, Streisand Neto Organizations: YORK, Reuters, Paramount, Warner Bros Discovery, AT, Netflix, Apple, Comcast, Electronic Arts, MSD Partners, Viacom, Audio Communications, CBS, Nickelodeon, MTV, Time Warner, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Tiffany Network, National Football League, Fox, Amazon, MGM, U.S, Penguin Random, Walt Disney, Amusements, Paramount Global, BDT Capital Partners, “, Paramount Pictures, Thomson Locations: U.S, Gulf, Western, NAI

☆ Edward H. Meyer, Who Built an Advertising Empire, Dies at 96
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Alex Williams | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Edward H. Meyer, an empire-building chief executive who, using an iron-willed management style and a laser focus on even the smallest details, transformed a midsize New York advertising agency into the global power known as Grey Group, died on Tuesday at his apartment in Manhattan. Mr. Meyer joined Grey Advertising, as it was then known, as an account-services executive in 1956, when the agency was billing about $34 million a year. He was named president in 1968 and assumed the reins as chairman and chief executive in 1970. As a manager, Mr. Meyer was anything but passive. Demanding performance at all levels, he had an uncompromising drive that inspired comparisons to corporate barons like Rupert Murdoch and Sumner Redstone.

☆ ‘Unscripted’ Review: Sex, Lies and Viacom
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Edward Kosner | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Sumner Redstone, who died in 2020 at the age of 97, was one of the killer whales thriving in the swirling currents of the modern media. A hulking old man with dyed red hair and a maimed right hand, he was a mega-billionaire with a ravenous appetite for power, riches—and sex. At his peak at the turn of the century, he controlled Viacom; Paramount Pictures; the National Amusements movie-theater chain; the CBS network, MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon; and the Simon & Schuster publishing house. Then the end came in a crescendo of recrimination, litigation and family turmoil. Imagine a mash-up of “King Lear” and “Weekend at Bernie’s,” the 1989 movie comedy about two scamps who prop up a cadaver so they can enjoy a weekend at his beach house, with Redstone starring in both title roles.

☆ New York Times' James Stewart discusses new book on Sumner Redstone succession fight
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailNew York Times' James Stewart discusses new book on Sumner Redstone succession fightJames Stewart, New York Times columnist and author, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss his latest book "Unscripted", the Sumner Redstone succession fight, and the business of media mergers.

☆ How Rupert Murdoch’s Empire of Influence Remade the World
▼ + stars: | 2019-04-03 | by ( Jonathan Mahler | Jim Rutenberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +61 min

Murdoch family, 1987: Lachlan, James, Anna and Rupert. The second season of HBO’s “Succession,” whose fictional media family, the Roys, bears a striking resemblance to the Murdochs, airs this summer. ‘A press dictatorship’To understand how the Murdoch empire works, it is essential to return to its origins. The bigger Murdoch’s empire became, the more power he had to clear away obstacles to further its expansion. Like his father, Lachlan considered the idea of meddling with such an important profit driver a form of madness.

Persons: ‘, Rupert Murdoch, Murdoch, Jerry Hall, Lachlan’s, Lachlan, —, Hall, President Trump, Theresa May, Robert A, consummating, Rupert, Elisabeth, Anna, James, David Graves, Rex, Prudence, Murdoch’s, Patricia Booker, Anna Mann, jockeying, Murdoch didn’t, ” Murdoch, Ron Galella, ‘ I’ve, Graham, Jeff Bezos, William R, Hearst, George Hearst, Ochs, Sulzberger, Arnold Newman, HBO’s, Australia —, “, don’t, Trump, Rutger Bregman, Tucker Carlson, Carlson, — Murdoch, Dow Jones, Bancroft, ’, Keith Murdoch, Keith, Joseph Lyons, Tom Roberts’s, ” Lyons, ”, I’ll, ” Rupert Murdoch, Aubrey Hart, Roberts, ” Keith, Margaret Thatcher’s, Thatcher, revel, John Major, Neil Kinnock, Joseph Stalin, Britain’s, Roy Cohn —, Joseph McCarthy, Ronald Reagan’s, Roger Stone Jr, Murdoch weaponize, Reagan’s, Stone, Reagan, George H.W, Bush, L.A, Ted Turner, Roger Ailes, Nixon, George H.W . Bush, Time Warner, Rudolph W, Giuliani, Post —, Fox, Monica Lewinsky, ” David Frum, George W, Sumner, Peter Mathew, Fairfax, Chase Carey, Talib Kweli, Rawkus, Kathryn Hufschmid, Kathryn, ” Lachlan, Sarah O’Hare, Lachlan doesn’t, Chris Mitchell, — he’d, Wendi Murdoch, Wendi, Jules Stein, Leonardo DiCaprio, James warily, Ivanka Trump, Ivanka’s, Jared Kushner, Kushner, Ivanka, Wendi’s, Donald Trump, Ailes, Rudolph Giuliani’s, Corey Lewandowski, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Bret Baier’s, Baier, Stephen F, Hayes, ” Trump, Tell Hayes, Sean Hannity, Sinclair —, Doug Mills, Megyn Kelly, — “ You’ve, — Trump, Kelly, Charles Krauthammer, John Kasich, James’s, Hillary Clinton, Tony Blair, Hillary, Clinton, United States —, Paul Gigot, Obama, Al Drago, Anthony Hilton, Hilton, Rodrigo Duterte, Viktor Orban, europhiles, Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson, David Cameron, feckless, Leveson, Robinson, Mick Jagger, Margaret Thatcher, Nigel Farage, Evgeny Lebedev, Carlo Allegri, Murdoch lounging, What’s, lodestar, David Rhodes, Rhodes, Ben Rhodes, Kevin Hagen, he’d, Trump’s, Jeff Rovin, Satan, James Murdoch, Clint Spaulding, Patrick McMullan, James Stavridis Organizations: Northern, Fox News Channel, Sun, European Union —, Downing, Walt Disney Company, Century Fox, Disney, Getty, News Corp, Trust, Washington Post, Hearst Corporation, United, The New York Times, Arnold Newman Properties, Fox, White, Broadway, Fox News, Trump White, Street, Melbourne Herald, Weekly Times, ”, Eugenics Society of Victoria, Oxford, Murdoch, Fleet, The, British government’s, Sky Television, Britain’s “, Labor, Trump, Gov, Reagan’s, New, New York Post, The Boston Herald, CNN, Time, Republican, Post, Pew, Republicans, CBS, Viacom, British Sky Broadcasting, Australia spearfishing, Harvard, The Harvard, Rawkus Records, Princeton, Kawasaki, Hollywood, New York Observer, York mayoral, Fox & Friends, Trump International Golf Club, Gateway, America, New York Times, Clinton Climate Initiative, Labor Party centrist, Pacific Partnership, Tea Party, European Union, Freedom Party, Nazi, London, Press Association, Associated Press, Brexit Times, United Nations, Reuters, Photographers, CBS News, Democrat Locations: Macedonia, Southern, San Francisco, Los Angeles, California, United States, Britain, London, Australia, Australian, Sydney, Lachlan, Davos, New York, Dutch, Iraq, British, Gallipoli, Adelaide, White Australia, Luxembourg, York, George H.W ., Midtown Manhattan, Manhattan, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Indonesia, Oregon, Fiji, Murdoch, Cavan, Beverly Hills, L.A, Caribbean, earshot, West Palm, Des Moines, Iowa, Ohio, Clinton, Trump, Downing, Brussels, Europe, Philippines, Manila, Bangkok, Cannes, “, Trump’s, Scotland, Aberdeen, Ailes’s, Russian

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