• by Wayne Friedman , April 3, 2024

National Amusements, which holds a near 80% voting stake in Paramount Global, has reached a deal to sell its interest to Skydance Media, a major film/TV production company on Paramount’s lot, according to a report in Bloomberg.

Representatives for National Amusements did not respond to inquiries by press time.

Skydance -- which has worked with Paramount on hit films including “Top Gun: Maverick” -- has had interest, according to previous reports, in only acquiring the studio operations at Paramount Global.

The deal is believed to be a bit complex -- predicated on Paramount also striking other deals, all of which need approval from Paramount board of directors, according to the story.

Skydance Media is run by David Ellison. His father is billionaire Larry Ellison, chairman and chief technology officer and founder of Oracle.

Shares of Paramount stock rose sharply late on Wednesday, closing up 15% at $13.52.

In addition to Skydance, Paramount continues to field other offers for the company -- a $11 billion offer for its studio from Apollo Global Management, as well as other deals that are wider in scope from media entrepreneur Byron Allen and Warner Bros. Discovery.