Mario Gabelli comes out against Paramount’s merger with Skydance: ‘I’d rather see no sale’
NY Post
Wall Street titan Mario Gabelli is slamming a possible merger between Paramount and Skydance Media — and says he’d rather see Paramount exit deal talks altogether, The Post has learned.
The legendary investor — whose firm through super voting shares and common Paramount stock is the second leading voting shareholder next to media heiress Shari Redstone — added in an exclusive interview with The Post that he’s also against a sale of Paramount to Apollo Global Management, which has offered $26 billion.
“There’s no question I’d rather see no sale,” Gabelli told The Post in an interview on Friday.
Last week, Paramount’s board agreed to enter exclusive merger talks with Skydance, led by CEO David Ellison, son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, favoring the independent studio over the $26 billion offer from Apollo.
As part of the deal, Skydance, which has produced blockbusters for Paramount like “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning,” and “Top Gun: Maverick,” would nab Redstone’s stake in National Amusements, the privately held company that owns almost 80% of the voting shares of Paramount Global, for around $2 billion.
Gabelli, however, told The Post that he prefers the company to stick with the turnaround strategy of Paramount president and CEO Bob Bakish.
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