Paramount Global (PARA) with a roughly $8.69 Billion Market capitalization opened trading this morning UP significantly around 6% on the weekend breaking news that CEO Bob Bakish could be fired from the company as early as today, Monday April 29th 2024 ahead of the earnings call this afternoon at 4:30pm EST.
Bob Bakish via CNBC Television YouTube
Bakish was named CEO in October of 2016, replacing Tom Dooley. At the end of 2023, Paramount showed total revenues of nearly $30 Billion but Operating Income (a KEY profitability metric) showed a LOSS of about $500 Million. At the same time, total debt of the Hollywood studio and entertainment company stood at roughly $16 Billion, which is a significant amount for an enterprise of its comparably meager valuation.
Shari Redstone’s National Amusements currently holds about 77% of the voting power over PARA and she has been seeking a deal with David Ellison (son of Oracle founder and billionaire Larry Ellison), the CEO of Skydance (Top Gun Maverick, Mission Impossible, etc…). Rumors circulated that Skydance would pay National Amusements (Redstone) some $2 Billion in CASH, while other shareholders of PARA would be left with naught but stock in compensation and no guarantee of future performance. The deadline for that deal is Friday May 3rd, however, rumor also has it that Skydance is seeking a two week extension of that deadline.
Should that deal fall through or the period of exclusivity ends without a final offer, other players like Apollo Global Management will have a window opened to step in. It’s also been reported by Wall Street trades that Apollo may be coming in with the backing of Sony Pictures and a WHOPPING $26 Billion ALL CASH offer, however this is as of yet unconfirmed.
Tom Cruise plays Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Top Gun: Maverick from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.
This alone is making CEO Bob Bakish’s tenure rocky to say the least as it’s no secret that he and Redstone have been at odds over management at Paramount for some time. This is not unlike the Michael Eisner situation some 20 years ago that saw the former Walt Disney Company CEO ousted in favor of an up-and-coming Bob Iger.
The REAL issue right now that likely has Skydance looking to delay negotiation deadlines is the fact that Paramount has yet to settle a new carriage deal with Charter/Spectrum (the second largest cable TV provider in the US behind Comcast) to continue broadcast of CBS and the family of other linear channels under the Paramount banner. Failure to come to terms would have a SIGNIFICANT negative impact on the overall valuation of Paramount. The deadline for that deal is tomorrow, Tuesday April 30th 2024.
Tom Cruise plays Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Top Gun: Maverick from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.
As it stands right now, both Redstone (via National Amusement) and the Board of Directors of Paramount look to be taking a vote of NO CONFIDENCE in CEO Bob Bakish, who CNBC reports will NOT be on the Earnings Call today at 4;30pm EST, seeming to signal definitively that the 8 year CEO of the vaunted Hollywood studio and broadcaster is indeed OUT. It has also been reported by the Wall Street Journal, Variety, and others that the board may name a team of executives from Paramount to serve as interim CEO.
Stay tuned as we will be covering the breaking news LIVE this afternoon from the Paramount Global Q1 2024 Earnings Call, where it seems very likely as of now we will learn the fate of the company.
