Sony, Apollo Make $26 Billion All-Cash Offer for Paramount

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In the latest twist in Paramount Global‘s M&A saga, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo Global Management reportedly have made a bid to take Paramount private with an all-cash buyout offer of $26 billion.

Sony and private-equity giant Apollo submitted an offer letter Wednesday to Paramount Global that is “a starting point for discussions and is nonbinding,” per a Wall Street Journal report Thursday. The reported bid, which evidently would include the assumption of debt, comes as Paramount Global board’s special committee established to consider M&A proposals is evaluating the best and final offer from Skydance Media to merge Paramount and Skydance while keeping Paramount Global public.

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If it happens, the combination of Sony Pictures with Paramount Pictures would likely result in mass layoffs — and knock the number of major Hollywood studios from five to four, after Disney took over 20th Century. Sony Corp., which acquired Columbia Pictures in 1990 for $3.5 billion, is the largest studio operator in the industry that does not have a broad-scale direct-to-consumer streaming play.

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Paramount rejected a previous bid from Apollo, most recently for more than $27 billion for Paramount Global (including debt) and prior to that an $11 billion offer for just Paramount Pictures.