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