Unless it's Carter Winston.
VARIETY: Paramount-Skydance merger collapsed in the final moments, and will lead to layoffs and austerity measures
- Thread starter Citiprime
- Start date
Unless it's Carter Winston.
Arguably, the worst-case scenario might have been if Redstone took the bid from Sony/Apollo Capital.
Apollo Capital is a hedge fund, and the pattern/history of hedge funds buying huge companies tend to be promises of revitalizing the brand while stripping it for parts and selling off the pieces to maximize short-term profits.
The most recent example of something like that is Red Lobster. Where the private equity firm that bought it sold all the land the restaurants sit on in order to equalize their position, forcing the Red Lobster chains to lease the property that had been sold out from under them, increasing their costs and forcing it into bankruptcy.
Yes, Jeff Bezos is a Trek fan. TNG in particular. (He's met Sir Patrick several times. Even invited him to check out Amazon once IIRC.) Rumor has it that it's because of him that PIC is available on Prime internationally unlike most of the other Trek shows because he made sure Amazon was the higest bidder. I've been saying for a long time to give Trek to one of the big streaming companies where a lot of people can watch it instead of throwing onto some obscure streaming service. As for new Trek shows tho... neither Netflix nor Prime have stood out much when it comes to advertising them when they had them. Which is the flip side of the coin I guess - to them Trek is just one show among zillion others. They would probably handle it differently if they OWNED the franchise tho, granted.
Thread can be renamed with an update tag. Deal back on apparently .
https://trekmovie.com/2024/07/02/paramount-reportedly-close-to-new-deal-with-skydance-again/
https://trekmovie.com/2024/07/02/paramount-reportedly-close-to-new-deal-with-skydance-again/
Yes, I would update the title if I could.
Among the details of this new potential deal:
- A bigger payout for Shari Redstone as well as some form of indemnification for potential shareholder lawsuits.
- Described as "premature to call a merger with Skydance a done deal, but this may be the closest the parties have come."
- Skydance has partnered with Paramount in the past on the production of Star Trek films, and is "committed to keeping Paramount Global intact."
- Skydance and Redstone's National Amusements have agreed to a 45-day “go-shop period,” during which other potential bidders can make offers. One potential other suitor that's entered the fray is Hollywood executive Barry Diller, who ran Paramount from 1974 to 1984.
- Paramount's current plans, absent a deal, include selling off BET and possibly the historic Paramount movie lot.
- Also, those current plans include a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to merge Paramount+ with (HBO) MAX. The merger of the streaming services may still be in play, even if the Skydance deal takes place.
Where did this come from, it's not mentioned in the linked article? It seems incredibly bizarre to me that during a buyout of Paramount, they'd merge their flagship product with another third party.
From the article at TrekMovie.com:
While all this is going on, the trio of CEOs who are currently running Paramount are continuing with their plans to cut costs and streamline the company, including selling off BET and other assets, possibly including the historic Paramount lot in Hollywood. And CNBC is reporting they are making good on their announced plan to find a joint venture partner for Paramount+ with Warner Bros. Discovery reportedly in talks to combine Paramount+ with their Max streaming service. Even if the deal with Skydance goes through, some kind of streaming joint venture still seems inevitable. This would have an impact on Star Trek as Paramount+ is the “home of Star Trek” (with the exception of Prodigy, with the second season just launched on Netflix).
Whoops, I somehow glanced over that, and nothing popped up when I searched "HBO"
Why is it bizarre? In-house streaming services have proven unprofitable. They've all been operating at a loss in hopes that they'd eventually become profitable, but they haven't, and the streaming model as it currently exists is unsustainable. The same company being both the manufacturer and the exclusive distributor of a product makes little sense; it's more logical for multiple creators of content to sell it to a few businesses that specialize in distribution in large quantities, like Netflix. It seems likely that most of the in-house studio-owned streaming services will either combine into a single, less redundant service, or will go out of business, whereupon their shows will be offered to the surviving services like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu.
Although, of possible partners, Warner Bros. Discovery wouldn’t be my first choice to jointly produce with Paramount if you’re concerned with getting more “Star Trek” made.
Unless it’s something prestige, like “House of the Dragon,” Warner Bros. Discovery has been brutal in cutting back on scripted series and shelving material for tax write offs. Also, I believe Warner Bros. Discovery is in worse debt than Paramount, so they might share costs in a deal, but I question the amount of “help” they’ll give for new productions.
Unless it’s something prestige, like “House of the Dragon,” Warner Bros. Discovery has been brutal in cutting back on scripted series and shelving material for tax write offs. Also, I believe Warner Bros. Discovery is in worse debt than Paramount, so they might share costs in a deal, but I question the amount of “help” they’ll give for new productions.
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there hasn't been any indication, as of yet, that using Max as a distributor would necessitate any kind of joint production.
Production and distribution are opposite ends of the process, even if the same megacorporation owns them both. The store you buy your groceries from doesn't manufacture the food, it just sells it. A partnership of distributors is not a partnership of producers.
It would be similar to how Disney+ offers a package combining it with Hulu, which shows a lot of Warner Bros. movies, so if you have that package, you can watch both Marvel and DC superhero movies on the same streamer.
We're so back, baby!
I'm going to play this in the background whenever I read news about the Paramount/Skydance Merger.
Or we'll go make our own stories. With Blackjack! And, hookers!
Don't forget your fur coat and cigar!
I got this email from Paramount+.
You want me to resume my subscription? Well, I'll be happy to do so when either:
1. Starfleet Academy is released. Ongoing if I like the series, just for one month if I don't.
2. Legacy is greenlit.
Whichever happens first. Otherwise, it's been real.
| DEAR [Lord Garth], |
| This email is to let you know that your Paramount+ subscription has expired. |
| We don't want you to miss out on over 30,000 episodes and movies (with more being added every month), as well as live sports, breaking news and exclusive originals you can only catch on Paramount+. So why not resume your subscription now? Just click the button below, sign in to your account and select "Resume Subscription". |
You want me to resume my subscription? Well, I'll be happy to do so when either:
1. Starfleet Academy is released. Ongoing if I like the series, just for one month if I don't.
2. Legacy is greenlit.
Whichever happens first. Otherwise, it's been real.