Why Did Paramount Kill the Skydance Merger? | Pivot

1. KSKara Swisher0:00

   Scott, we're back with our second big story. The fate of Paramount is up in the air. It looks like Shari's gonna run it herself after controlling shareholder Shari Redstone killed merger talks with Skydance earlier this week, ending a months-long saga that keeps going on. I know, you know, we've talked about whether it's important or not, but it's very interesting. National Amusements, the Redstone family company that owns Paramount, said the parties have not been able to reach a deal, noting they could not agree on outstanding non-economic terms. Redstone is now reportedly looking to pursue a separate sale of National Amum- Amusements without trying to merge Paramount with another company. I- I- I- I've been trying to figure it out. Um, there's a Sony deal, Apollo deal that was sticking out there, but it was the only other one. Um, there was a talk about a Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. There were all these plans to take CBS and have Jeff Zucker and Jeff Schell run it. That's gone. Um, I don't know what to say here. I guess David Zaslav is probably calling her, I suppose. Um, it's such a convoluted ownership structure. And by the way, media investor Edgar Bronfman Jr., backed by Bain Capital, is reportedly looking to make a $2 billion offer for National Amusements. Um, Steven Paul, Hollywood producer Steven Paul is also lining up financing. What do you do if you're a Paramount shareholder? Is there anything to do? It- the shares dropped 8% on Tuesday.

2. SGScott Galloway1:18

   Again, I don't wanna make a sh-... I- I- I wish Paramount would develop, be essentially really poorly trained or have a limp, and that- that the governor of South Dakota would just take this thing and shoot it and bury it in a gravel pit. I am so sick of hearing about the neuroses of billionaires. Do you realize... You know, th- this is really an interesting and disparaging statement on America. The only people going after this thing now are billionaire children. Edgar Bronfman Jr., Shari Redstone, David Ellison. What do they all have in common? They've all inherited billions.

3. KSKara Swisher1:51

   Billionaires. Mm-hmm.

4. SGScott Galloway1:52

   That- those are the three players involved in this. And then, and then what did we-

5. KSKara Swisher1:56

   On Apollo and Sony.

6. SGScott Galloway1:57

   Well, okay. There, but what did we predict? Apollo's just waiting for this dysfunction to- to pan out.

7. KSKara Swisher2:04

   Mm-hmm.

8. SGScott Galloway2:04

   Have at it. Have at it, billionaire weirdos. (laughs) And-

9. KSKara Swisher2:08

   Mm-hmm.

10. SGScott Galloway2:08

    ... when you're serious and-

11. KSKara Swisher2:09

    I hadn't thought about that, you know? (laughs)

12. SGScott Galloway2:10

    ... and- and when you're serious and realize-

13. KSKara Swisher2:12

    Mm-hmm.

14. SGScott Galloway2:12

    ... this- these pretzel, weird, gymnastic, unnatural-act deals fall apart because they make no fucking sense and they never did, we're here. Probably not at a price you like, but we're here.

15. KSKara Swisher2:24

    Mm-hmm.

16. SGScott Galloway2:24

    And you're right. It's either gonna go... I don't know if Warner can do it with their debt right now. I- I think-

17. KSKara Swisher2:30

    Well, they- they've brought it down quite a bit. They brought it down-

18. SGScott Galloway2:32

    But look, this is what's happened.

19. KSKara Swisher2:34

    ... because they're a disciplined executive.

20. SGScott Galloway2:35

    The company has been in play for six months.

21. KSKara Swisher2:38

    Mm-hmm.

22. SGScott Galloway2:38

    When companies are in play, their stocks go up.

23. KSKara Swisher2:41

    Yeah, it's like a house. Mm-hmm.

24. SGScott Galloway2:41

    In the last six months, Paramount Global's stock has gone down 34%-

25. KSKara Swisher2:47

    Mm-hmm.

26. SGScott Galloway2:47

    ... because all this drama has reflected is the controlling shareholder at Paramount is a billionaire child. And the great thing about dynasties is usually, the kid fucks it up and spends most of Dad's money. And usually what's interesting is the grandkid looks up and says, "Grandfather was a baller, Grand- Dad was an idiot," and they make some of it back. But this is the next generation of idiots blowing-

27. KSKara Swisher3:12

    Mm-hmm.

28. SGScott Galloway3:12

    ... their parents' money. Notice how no institutional investor is a serious bidder here.

29. KSKara Swisher3:18

    Yeah. Yeah, not yet. They're waiting.

30. SGScott Galloway3:19

    So, and- and again, I'm just kinda like, uh, d- d- can we just fast-forward to when this thing is put out of its misery?

Episode duration: 6:46