Byron Allen, founder, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group, speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, on May 2, 2022.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
Byron Allen, the media mogul who offers $14 billion for Paramount Globaltold CNBC on Wednesday that he has the money to finance a deal, despite skepticism about getting a deal done.
“We have more than enough capital available. The real challenge is making sure we close,” Allen said.
“This deal lives or dies on [Federal Communications Commission],” he added.
Allen, founder and CEO of a media conglomerate that owns dozens of U.S. television networks, offered $30 billion for all of Paramount’s stock, including debt and equity.
Allen Media Group said in a statement that the offer “is the best solution for all shareholders of Paramount Global and the offer should be seriously considered and pursued.”
Allen has a long history of pitching to major media outlets. But an offer does not mean a purchase.
Recent media buyout offers have failed to materialize in sales. the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Allen offered $18.5 billion for Paramount last year and was rejected.
Allen told CNBC that he has not heard back from Paramount on his latest offer.
Shari Redstone, who controls Paramount through her company National Amusements, has been open to making deals in recent months in an effort to either merge or sell the company that is home to brands such as CBS, Showtime, Nickelodeon and the eponymous movie studio.
CNBC reported last week that David Ellison’s Skydance Media and its backers were exploring a deal to take Paramount Pictures or the entire media company private.
In December, CNBC also reported that Paramount had begun preliminary talks with Discovery by Warner Bros to merge the two media giants in a deal that could face regulatory hurdles.
Allen’s bid for Paramount is the most ambitious of the deals the media mogul has attempted to complete. Here are some of his recent reconciliation attempts:
- In December, Allen renewed an effort to buy Paramount-owned Black Entertainment Television and VH1 for a combined $3.5 billion.
- In November, Bloomberg reported, it was weighing an offer to buy TV stations from EW Scripps.
- In September, Allen made an offer to buy ABC and several other networks from Disney for $10 billion after Disney CEO Bob Iger opened the door to selling the company’s linear TV assets.
- In 2022, he explored an offer to buy the Washington Governors of the National Football League.
- In March 2020, it offered $8.5 billion to buy a TV station owner Tegna.
Allen told CNBC by phone Wednesday that he lost out on several deals because the ownership changed course in wanting to sell. He highlighted the 2018 acquisition of The Weather Channel for $300 million and broadly defended its track record, citing baseball Hall of Famer Babe Ruth.
“Let’s talk about Babe Ruth. Is he one of the greatest baseball players of all time? And he hit half the times,” Allen said. In fact, Ruth struck out 1,300 times in 8,399 at bats – a 15% strikeout rate.
Allen’s bids for linear TV assets come as the media landscape shifts from traditional TV to streaming. Almost all major media companies have launched services to compete with the streaming giant Netflix.
Paramount reported in its third-quarter earnings report that its streaming platform, Paramount+, grew its number of subscribers to 63 million. But Paramount’s direct-to-consumer products haven’t been as profitable as Netflix. The division reported an adjusted loss of $238 million for the third quarter.
Paramount will report fourth-quarter earnings on February 28.
Allen told CNBC that he wants to buy Paramount for its linear networks, which he says is the most difficult part of the company.
“These are still great businesses if you know how to run them right,” Allen said.
Shares of Paramount rose nearly 7% on Wednesday and are up more than 35% in the past three months as deal talks have intensified. However, the stock is more than 40% off its 52-week high of $25.93 per share reached in February 2023.
— CNBC’s Alex Sherman and Julia Boorstin contributed to this report.
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