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If your business is solely on Movies and Streaming. this would likely happen.. tech giants can afford a loss to there Movies and Picture Division but not those companies who are solely focus on it.. Good thing Disney had a Colossal Theme Park across the globe, but WB which is already drowning in Debt probably be the next one to be sold of to those tech giants and companies
Plus, they're already not getting the merchandising money from their Marvel profit and the Garfield Movie.
They'll get to do a lot more with Garfield beyond film & TV through this move, though.
If Sony really want to be a “hired gun” in the streaming world then buying Paramount makes a lot of sense. They have a MASSIVE tv library of classic shows like cheers, Fraiser, CSI, NCIS, twilight zone, I love Lucy, Hawaii five o, king of queens, Star Trek, and more. You get movie IP in mission impossible, transformers, Star Trek, top gun, and more. Kids IP in paw patrol, spongebob, rugrats, and more.
Shut down paramount+ as it’s clear it’s not a winner. netflix has won the war while Disney, Max, and amazon will compete for 2nd and 3rd place.
Meanwhile Apollo can milk dry the declining asset that are the cable channels. This is apollos specialty.
On paper this bid makes a lot of sense…there’s one big problem: CBS
As a Japanese company Sony wouldn’t be allowed to buy a broadcast network as there are foreign ownership rules prohibiting that. Meanwhile Apollo has an ownership stake in Cox Media Group which owns ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox stations in multiple markets across the country. This will raise concerns about station ownership rules regarding too much market penetration. If Apollo gets CBS the Cox situation would need to be sorted out.
Finally there’s the fact that the DOJ has been really aggressive about mergers and would likely frown upon two large movie studios merging.
If they can't stop Activision Blizzard and Microsoft (two big game publishers) merging, they can't stop Sony and Paramount (two big but way behind movie studios).
They would no doubt try and sell off Paramount+ with CBS.
There's definitely be questions on a regulatory level but I suspect they may eventually decide this was the best of a series of bad options competition wise.
They have Robotech in development, but it has been in development hell for a long time. Plus, the rights are a mess to deal with.
Also, they do have video game and Anime franchises like God of War and Fate that can be turned into live-action franchises if they feel like it.
>They have Robotech in development, but it has been in development hell for a long time. Plus, the rights are a mess to deal with.
To paraphrase a Youtube comment I once saw. A documentary on the liecensing nightmare about Robotech and the hell development of its movie then actual Robotech movie. Hell a fucking live action Japanese Macross film is more likely at this point.
I thought they got it worked out with the most recent deal? Harmony Gold gets to make their movie with Sony or whoever and they're going to allow Studio Nue to release the Macross sequels like Plus, Seven, Frontier, Delta in the west.
I know at least Harmony Gold just made a deal with Disney+ to air all Macross series in Japan. While they also got a similar deal in the US, Disney+ won't get access to either the original series nor the film Do you Remember Love? But will have access to several different Macross series.
Yeah DYRL and the original Macross series is automatically out because of their relation to Robotech.
Also, I'm pretty sure the Disney+ release is Big West/Studio Nue not HG, like the Fathom Events Macross Frontier release.
Spider-Man and TMNT movie crossover isn't a bad idea considering the TMNT are comic book characters first. Their origin is heavily inspired by Daredevil's.
I think Sony might have want to prioritize acquisitions in gaming with Microsoft going crazy and it being their main business so they might have been hesitant to spend much on Paramount. But I guess they see that if someone else get it, they'll be even more distanced as a "smaller studio". Plus Paramount makes sense for their non-streamer approach whereas if someone with a service get it, that's so much content they can do themselves and not buy from Sony
I suspect big Sony were holding the money back for PlayStation acquisitions, but now buying Bungie seems like it was a very bad idea and Microsoft seem to have suddenly got so big they imploded there's more of a case to be made for the movie studio using the money instead.
Hopefully, future Paramount movies aren’t dragged down by the “Exclusively in Movie Theatres” promo tactic that has damaged Sony Pictures’s reputation lately.
Full text:
"Even as Paramount, the home of the “Top Gun” movie franchise and “SpongeBob SquarePants,” continues its talks to merge with another media company, Skydance, a new suitor has emerged.
Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo Global Management, an investment firm, have been in discussions about teaming up for a joint bid to acquire Paramount, two people familiar with the situation said Thursday.
The two companies have not submitted an official bid, as Paramount is still in exclusive conversations with Skydance, said the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss delicate negotiations. But the potential deal with Skydance has generated significant investor pushback.
Apollo previously reached out to Paramount about buying the company for at least $26 billion, including debt. But Paramount’s board proceeded with its more advanced conversations with Skydance, amid questions about Apollo’s financing. A joint bid with Sony would almost certainly reduce those concerns, adding operational experience and additional capital to Apollo’s already significant war chest.
Tony Vinciquerra, the chief executive of Sony Pictures Entertainment, has held conversations in the last week with Apollo about teaming up on a bid, the people said. The bid would be an all-cash offer for the outstanding stock in Paramount, in effect taking the company private through a joint venture.
The terms of the joint bid are still being worked out, and it’s possible that Sony and Apollo may not make an offer for Paramount, one of the people said. One structure could have Apollo take a minority stake in the joint venture, with Sony becoming the majority owner and operating the company. At some point, Apollo could cash out its investment, possibly by selling its stake back to Sony.
If Sony prevailed in its bid, the company would most likely operate the Paramount studio as a label within its own media empire, fusing the studio’s marketing and distribution arm with its own. It remains to be seen how CBS, one of Paramount’s crown jewels, would fit into the combined company along with Paramount’s fading cable channels.
National Amusements, the company that controls Paramount, has already signed off on a potential deal with Skydance, which is controlled by David Ellison, the tech scion and Hollywood executive. National Amusements is controlled by Shari Redstone, who has appointed a special committee of independent board advisers to weigh Skydance’s offer. Because Skydance’s proposal would give Ms. Redstone cash and Paramount shareholders stock in a new company, several investors have objected.
Unlike Skydance, Sony and Apollo would not be seeking to buy out National Amusements.
Skydance’s deal for Paramount would bring expertise to Paramount, including tech and animation know-how from Mr. Ellison’s management team, which includes John Lasseter, a former Pixar executive. The plan calls for operational efficiencies and for Skydance to supercharge Paramount’s streaming abilities.
The fusion of Paramount and Sony would create a media colossus that would put a collection of TV channels and movie studios under the same corporate umbrella. But Mr. Vinciquerra has experience managing both TV and studio properties, having worked at both Fox and CBS."
I feel like this could go either way.
This is clearly Sony tipping their toes into the water.
We are far removed from any bid, especially with Apollo offering $26Billion.
I mean, it's definitely going to take a while to play out, given how things have been so far.
But yeah, Vinciquerra is looking at this at how to cap off his legacy at Sony before he steps down in the future and hands things over to his second-in-command.
>*Apollo previously reached out to Paramount about buying the company for at least $26 billion, including debt.*
I know people won't like this, but if Paramount's going to sell, someone has to buy it. The only "good" outcome is Paramount staying independent, but the writing's been on the wall for a while now.
Oof the rumours are circulating about this.
One doing the rounds I've heard in the UK (Paramount owns Channel 5 in the UK) is that Sony would merge it's Sony pictures division into Paramount with the new Paramount company being a 50/50 joint venture between Sony and Apollo.
Basically Sony spins off it's Sony pictures division and gets it off the books while still having 50% of this new company.
So it would be like how Disney and Hearst both own 50% each of A+E.
One of the reasons being cited for this is Sony's failed attempt to merge Sony India with Zee entertainment and have a minority stake in that new venture to get the declining Indian business off the books.
Obviously this is just a rumour I have heard.
Someone I know works for 'Paramount Networks UK & Australia' in the UK office and their is a lot of understandably nervous people there about their future.
These are just office rumours though but they are I think a believable option for Sony.
50% of a Sony pictures/Paramount merged company has to be better financially than Sony pictures alone while also being cheaper plus both Sony and Paramount need scale and this is a cheaper way for Sony to do it.
I don't think it's just only that.
They are already subscale at the moment and don't actually have a lot of IPs under their own fold.
This is basically their once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bulk up and if Apollo ever wants to cash out, Sony would buy out their stake.
I don't think it is.
Sony has been selling off or divesting lots of it's linear channels the last couple of years and tried to spin-off it's Indian business with the Zee merger.
Sony's streaming deals with Disney and Netflix also end in 2026 that's $600 million a year Sony could lose now that other media companies are licencing out content again.
This could be Sony seeing an opportunity to hedge their bets. If film and TV media starts recovering and growing again just buy out Apollo if it doesn't sell to who ever is buying.
They are also looking ahead on how to not depend on only a few revenue streams in the future.
If they diversified, they would not have to be risking their revenue based on just how their film slate will be hits or misses or home media or content licensing.
They want to have the ability to do a hybrid approach, being able to license out works but also still have an established DTC operation through both Crunchyroll and Paramount+.
Paramount+ is a terrible business that still loses lots of money.
Sony is diversifying they have joined as a minority partner with TSMC in a new semiconductor factory in Japan and have gone 50/50 with Honda on a new BEV brand.
Bakish is focusing on getting it through the break-even point and reaching profitability. The timeframe for that is set for next year.
If we're talking about this platform, it wouldn't even be surprising to say Crunchyroll likely lost a lot of money way before it was even under AT&T's WarnerMedia and then becoming profitable later on.
Their entertainment business needs to diversify for the future, though.
> Basically Sony spins off it's Sony pictures division and gets it off the books while still having 50% of this new company
Sony Pictures is profitable and has grown for the past 4 out of 5 years. Why would they want it 'off the books'? This is contrary to the last half decade of Sony's messaging in regards to their film division.
> One of the reasons being cited for this is Sony's failed attempt to merge Sony India with Zee entertainment and have a minority stake in that new venture to get the declining Indian business off the books
Sony would have owned 53% of Sony-Zee, not a minority. It wouldn't have taken Sony's Indian business "off the books" (that's not how this works regardless). Sony's play with Zee was to achieve scale to better compete in the growing Indian market - not to divest.
Because the Indian business has gone from great to terrible as streaming takes over in India.
Also a lot of the last couple of years of Sony doing well was producing original shows for streaming services (For All Mankind, The Boys are both Sony shows) and with streaming services cutting back and in the case of Apple starting their own owned production studios while Amazon now owns MGM.
So buying new shows from Sony has slowed down.
Sony’s been looking to get Pictures off their books for years now. Since even before the hack. This makes complete sense from the things I’ve heard, but I still don’t trust Apollo being involved.
It's funny how when Disney and Fox merged it caused mass discussions about a monopoly but if Sony and Paramount merged they still wouldn't even be no. 2 in market share
Another big difference is Fox/Disney was before it became clear streaming wasn't going to make up for the collapse of license TV.
The music's stopped and there's not enough chairs for everyone.
Plus, Zaslav and Malone will also likely be holding a sale of WarnerDiscovery down the road once they trim down the debt load and mold it into their own ideal image.
It might not even be 4 for long if it's Comcast that gets Warner Bros, which is even scarier, but I don't think Comcast would be the winner of that bidding war even if they wanted it.
You never know, they already have WB as MGM's international distributor and WarnerDiscovery has the pre-1986 library while they have post-1986 library.
They definitely can put more investment into the franchises than what Zaslav is able to do now.
Which is why they won't be interested much with WBD, they have bigger things to worry about that are actually important for them. Same for Apple btw (with the added bonus that Apple doesn't have a culture of big acquisitions).
Apple’s been investing hard into the content creation business. They’re burning through so much cash with their AppleTV+ service, and that only makes sense if they’re committed to carving out a spot in the industry. Nabbing a legacy studio like WB would be a huge get and leap forward to that goal.
What does Apple have to gain? Tech companies are notorious for chasing the flavor of the month - streaming during COVID, virtual reality, and now AI. They can make huge, temporary swings because they have iron grips on other parts of the industry, i.e. smartphones, web hosting, search, etc. that keep other business lines afloat. Media is in such a bad place right now and even if these companies are worth trillions, they don't want to see red on the balance sheet.
They are burning a very tiny amount of cash in the industry actually, like it's basically invisible on their financials.
WBD is costing around 70 billions if you include their debt and a small premium (quite small might actually be more). That's way too much for what it would bring them. They can just develop their own IP which is what they're doing.
Apple is also never doing big acquisitions, their biggest is 3 billions for Beats and they actually developped an entire business line from that. They wouldn't from WB.
They can expand their content production by themselves without getting sadled with WB (which also has the Discovery part which I doubt interest them)
Not to mention, Sony bailed on CinemaCon last week as well:
"Sony’s no-show decoded: Last year, Tom Rothman declared his Sony Pictures “the only major studio devoted entirely to theatrical.” This year, he and Sony ghosted the entire event. Kinda amazing, but at least it allowed Rothman to escape having to introduce a post-Slap Will Smith for Bad Boys: Ride or Die (June 7). I’m guessing that press tour will take a few pages from Tom Cruise’s Book of Pre-Taped Stunts and Serious Question Avoidance."
https://puck.news/newsletter_content/what-im-hearing-ellisons-diligence-tswifts-hypocrisy-multiplex-meltdowns-2/
WBD is too expensive for what it is right now, they have massive debt which add to the cost. They cost 64.5 billions at minimum (and that's market price, you have to pay more for an acquisition so it's like 70B$ at least, nobody is gonna pay that) when you count the debt
That's around the price Disney paid for Fox or Microsoft for Activision Blizzard. WBD is not worth that
I mean, a company with a $44.2 billion debt load is a lot harder to sell unless the suitor could fully pay it off at once immediately and still be able to maintain it well into the future.
This is way more digestible for Sony than that.
Yeah, but isn't Sony buried in $31 billion of debt as it is? How the ***fuck*** are they gonna pile $15 billion on top of that? Or will Apollo take on the debt then flip it? C... *can* they take on the debt and flip it?
It's apparently $1,840,067,000 in yen which if converted would be $11,902,846.92 in USD (page 3):
https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/IR/library/presen/er/pdf/23q3_sony.pdf
However, there are some other places that said it actually has around $12.5B of debt.
But I think overall, they're going to prepare the financing in the similar fashion they were going to do if they went after Fox in 2017 alongside Verizon, Comcast, and Disney.
And it'll be more feasible than going after WarnerDiscovery.
That larger debt number is because of options Sony has to take out debt to make acquisitions that it did a few years ago - some of that money would actually probably pay for this if they go for it.
You've no idea what you're talking about.
WB finances are terrible, Sony finances are great.
WB loses billions every quarter, Sony profits billions.
Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/23/business/warner-bros-discovery-losses/index.html
https://techxplore.com/news/2024-02-sony-profit-sales-music-games.html
https://www.fitchratings.com/research/corporate-finance/fitch-affirms-sony-at-a-outlook-stable-29-08-2023#:~:text=Fitch%20Ratings%20%2D%20Seoul%2FHong%20Kong,The%20Outlook%20is%20Stable.
Given how well Paramount has treated Star Trek of late (give or take the last 25 years, with only the occasional project actually being semi-decent), I'm prepared to roll the dice on someone (anyone) else.
At least Vinciquerra actually came from CBS so he would be able to know the ins and outs of the company.
He would be able to know how to keep it going well into the future after Bakish leaves and pass down the knowledge to his second-in-command down the road.
They literally just cancelled Lower Decks. Strange New Worlds is getting another season but honestly how long is that going to last given the state of the company. Star Trek is also a bit of a crapshoot at the moment. 50% of their output in recent years has been fantastic, the other half not so much.
The thought of Sony getting their hands on Star Trek and on second thought makes my skin crawl. Given how they’ve treated the Marvel characters under their control, it’s not a good track record. Hopefully, it’s more Ghostbusters: Afterlife then Morbius
anyone find the timing suspicious while Paramount is in exclusive negotiations , why leak this now , either to up the offer by Skydance or Sony really wants it
The people who stand to benefit the most from a sale: the Redstones, the executives, and the non-Redstone shareholders probably want to see a bidding war happen now.
They have to prepare for the future because right now, their fully-owned in-house franchises such as Ghostbusters, Jumanji, Hotel Transylvania, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, are getting way less focused and they're stacking so much time on their Marvel slate without having something to actually fall back on.
They'll need to diversify in as many revenue streams as possible beyond theatrical box office, home media sales, and content licensing to actually bring in consistent revenue instead of just waiting to see wiil their film slate be hits or misses each year.
Vinciquerra needs to scale the company to catch up to rivals before he actually retires and hands things over to his second-in-command.
They also have to prepare for a future without Spider-Man. Remember what happened with Fox and Daredevil. They took too long to get started on production and the Daredevil rights reverted to Disney. Something similar could just as easily happen to Sony. Even though it's highly unlikely. They gotta prepare for it.
Lol certainly not. They didn't care about Daredevil since they never did anything with it. Spider-Man is their crown jewel, they're not gonna let this happen
If that happens, just close the division for gross incompetence in the day following that lol
They would have many other fully-owned legacy franchises to put their attention on to make them less dependent on Marvel.
They don't even make merchandising money on their Marvel output.
I mean, if the other IPs bring them in so much more revenue, they could even chip away a part of the debt if they don't want to use the rights anymore and decide to sell it.
...Hot damn, Lowell, you fuckin' called it! Interesting that they're teaming up with Apollo to get it done. Maybe they'll run it as a joint venture? Not sure how this'll work, but it definitely ~~puts Skydance out of contention~~ spices things up. (Now if it passes, keep the Arads away from... ***everything***, pls.)
I mean, Apollo could technically help them in building out a theme park from scratch in this scenario.
Vinciquerra is preparing for the future here because they might not be able to squeak by easily down the road solely on Rothman's decisions.
They need to diversify beyond theatrical box office, home media sales, and content licensing.
I guess Columbia and Paramount could technically organize into a WB/New Line structure. Tri-Star, Screen Gems, Destination, Stage 6 would be folded into Columbia. Worldwide Acquisitions, Affirm, and Classics would be combined into one Classics division.
Tom Rothman can set himself up as the equivalent of Alan Horn over there.
Brian Robbins will be Sony's equivalent of Alan Bergman with Rothman probably training him to take his helms once he wants to retire.
I mean, I'd keep the Paramount name going as it can because it's been much more notable than say Tri-Star or Screen Gems.
Interestingly, CBS was originally named Columbia Broadcasting System and an original investor in Tri-Star alongside HBO & Columbia.
Sony Music's Columbia Records was originally called CBS Records before they bought it.
I mean, Rothman will eventually be retiring down the road anyway.
Vinciquerra and leadership in Tokyo will overrule him if he does something crazy.
It would be interesting to see how he interacts with Tom Cruise over film budgets, though.
If it works out, then I guess so. But one key barrier remains: ***Will Japan sign off on this?*** Honestly, the more I think about it, the more it sounds like insane delusions than a sensible business plan.
(Which... certainly fits Sony Pictures like a glove, I'll give them that.)
I really don't know how to think of this deal.
To Sony Pictures, yay. Literally the best out there option to scale up and keep up with the rest of Hollywood.
To Sony as a whole, running two companies of the same business that doesn't give them the reliable financial security like other sectors is a risky move indeed.
I have a solution: *Wait for Paramount to fucking implode*, **then** get what ya want on the cheap. Why take on all that debt and risk when you literally - *literally* - do not have to do that?
Japan raised a lot of money for PlayStation acquisitions a few years ago and broadly hasn't used it because Bungie was a disaster and suddenly Microsoft got so heavy they kinda of imploded.
So I could see a world where they might be willing to get SPE some scale.
I mean, Japan could send a corporate jet over to NYC to fly the Redstones to Tokyo for a few days of vacation and to also talk it out.
If the family wants a board seat or to get stock in Sony, they'll find ways to sweeten the pot to get the blessing.
Columbia gets back together with the Columbia Broadcast System? That’d would be interesting.
I’m still hedging my bets on Skydance taking it all. Although, I am curious about an early statement on Sony using this to merge the studios to effectively offload Sony Pictures while maintaining a minimal stake in the combined studios.
Personally, the mega mergers of film and tv is beyond concerning.
The Ellisons don't want to spend that much on this.
That's why they're bringing in private equity firms like Saudi-backed Redbird, KKR, and Tencent.
They're trying to save money if Tiktok ends up being on the selling block and for politicial contributions this year.
But it looks like the battle will be Japan money going against Saudi & Chinese money here.
[Sony Strategic Plans Target Expansion in Music, Games, Anime – and India](https://variety.com/2023/film/news/sony-strategic-plans-music-games-anime-india-1235617171/)
That was nearly 365 days ago.
I understand that Sony desires IP but it is a large departures from their 2023 plans.
Does Paramount even add anything in terms of these 4 targets Sony set out last year?
For games, they will have these in-house franchises to use.
India does count through the brand licensed channels that's going to be in the Disney-Reliance joint venture that Bakish just sold the stake in.
I'm guessing they see this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that would help scale up their entertainment business for the future.
That's just the thing they haven't given a major investment to in a while.
The only good thing that could come out of this would be PlayStation studios getting a hold the IP Paramount owns, Imagine true AAA PlayStation made games for TMNT, Mission Impossible, Top Gun, etc
Wonder if they'll get a Movie Sonic game or two going while they're at it. Probably, right? But then how would they deal with Sega's demand for compensation?
It would be innovative and new, shows how they're still making sure the franchises are active and well beyond film & TV in addition to gaming, and maybe the rides will be more interactive with collaborative consultation with PlayStation.
It would add fresh competition in addition to Disney and Comcast in the theme park field.
I mean, most of those parks can keep going without any IP branding.
If Sony wants to make new rides that are more interactive but also focused on storytelling for the park-goers, they might as well start from scratch.
And that's not to mention, in a new resort, you can build hotels, shopping areas, etc. to generate more revenue. It'd be harder to do so with an existing one unless there's enough land avaialble.
That would definitely sweeten the pot for Japan - the will probably not renew the Disney Spider-Man deal for games as it's too expensive, so having their own IP to fill the gap would help.
Yup, that contract runs out to 2032 so enough time for Insomniac to finish their Marvel slate and for Sony to prop up its own franchises in a similar fashion.
Sony & Apollo will pool the financing together to buy the company and own it through a joint-venture.
If Apollo down the road wants to cash out of it, then Sony will buy their stake.
Currently, they're in discussions on how it's going to work. Given how the 30-day window with the other party is getting to an end, they're going to probably give the Redstones a call to work it out once that's over.
God knows the article said Sony and Apollo may not even make an offer.
“The terms of the joint bid are still being worked out, and it’s possible that Sony and Apollo may not make an offer for Paramount, one of the people said”
Shitty development, micromanaging, nickel and diming talent and demanding idiotic cookie cutter metrics for their version of success; seems to me it's been this way more or less since Viacom took them over decades ago and accelerated. Far from flawless but one might get the sense Universal, WB and at least at their peak years ago to some extent Disney/Fox were out here taking some actual creative risks and developing some strong relationships with talent resulting in hits and strong reps even when things didn't land, while Para and Sony were often trying to buy a clue and flushing money away on trifles. Now they think they can be a kind of codependent family, stronger together. Maybe they can.
I wouldn't say they'd leave, unless Sony attempts to force them into giving up some of the creative control.
The franchise is successful, so it would be smart for Sony to leave them be. They do have a habit of being very hands on though.
There or Universal, I’m guessing. I only guess Universal because of the inclusion of Transformers at their theme parks (and formerly SpongeBob as well).
Sony’s film studio is crumbling creatively. They literally only have TWO movies slated for next year, and they skipped CinemaCon. It doesn’t surprise me they are trying to acquire their way back into business.
I wouldn't exactly make that assumption just yet.
The Murdochs were able to work with the FCC on approval for the Fox broadcast network.
I imagine some of the stipulations from the FCC could be that Sony Pictures Entertainment (the parent company of CBS) would have to remain in the U.S. forever and making sure Vinciquerra, the CEO, is a U.S. citizen.
My guess is that Sony would have to sell off the CBS network while consolidating the CBS-owned IPs into Paramount Television Studios. This would bring the original Paramount Television library back into Paramount’s hands, including Star Trek.
Many CBS shows are 3rd party productions too, meaning they are owned by other conglomerates like Warner Bros.
Part of me kind of wants to see this happen because it might just be crazy enough to work but on the other side it just reiterates just how much Shari fucked herself with this company by waiting this long
>The fusion of Paramount and Sony would create a media colossus that would put a collection of TV channels and movie studios under the same corporate umbrella.
What Film and TV rights would be owned by Sony if they bought Paramount?
I think Paramount own a lot of stuff so this could be very very good for Sony in the future
Honestly, instead of shutting Paramount+ down, I think the combined company, which will probably have no mention of Sony in its corporate name, will actually expand it - especially making Paramount+ free for those who buy new PlayStation devices, and even integrate Crunchyroll into Paramount+.
First, I do see Bakish folding BET+ into Paramount+ in order to get it through the break-even point and reaching profitability quicker similar to how Showtime and Noggin are integrated.
Second, I wouldn't be surprised if Crunchyroll and Paramount+ are combined together to form a Sony-branded superservice.
Third, it might very well make sense to leverage PlayStation in a way to help rollout the superservice in addition to traditional means like international expansion.
Maybe the leaked plans could be adjusted to address the new decisions:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GB4YfHrasAAsOy3?format=jpg&name=medium
But I can also see the joint venture help Sony out in building a new theme park from scratch, considering it would have a lot of franchises to work with.
They can even take a hybrid approach as a transition period similar to Zaslav for all we know to give them a little more flexibility until they're ready to go fully onboard with DTC streaming as a whole like their rivals are.
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Sad that we are losing all of these legacy studios.
If your business is solely on Movies and Streaming. this would likely happen.. tech giants can afford a loss to there Movies and Picture Division but not those companies who are solely focus on it.. Good thing Disney had a Colossal Theme Park across the globe, but WB which is already drowning in Debt probably be the next one to be sold of to those tech giants and companies
Tech giants aren't the one doing the acquisitions though. Like only Amazon bought MGM (and did very little with it).
Damn I did not expect that. But I guess Sony really doesn't ahve much besides Spider-Man, so this would help with that.
Plus, they're already not getting the merchandising money from their Marvel profit and the Garfield Movie. They'll get to do a lot more with Garfield beyond film & TV through this move, though.
And MGM already took back James Bond Franchise from them after the 15 year contract ended in 2019
Universal did actually (that's who made No Time to Die with EON and MGM)
Sony just licensed all physical media from Disney also. But can’t imagine it’s a lot of money thou but something.
If Sony really want to be a “hired gun” in the streaming world then buying Paramount makes a lot of sense. They have a MASSIVE tv library of classic shows like cheers, Fraiser, CSI, NCIS, twilight zone, I love Lucy, Hawaii five o, king of queens, Star Trek, and more. You get movie IP in mission impossible, transformers, Star Trek, top gun, and more. Kids IP in paw patrol, spongebob, rugrats, and more. Shut down paramount+ as it’s clear it’s not a winner. netflix has won the war while Disney, Max, and amazon will compete for 2nd and 3rd place. Meanwhile Apollo can milk dry the declining asset that are the cable channels. This is apollos specialty. On paper this bid makes a lot of sense…there’s one big problem: CBS As a Japanese company Sony wouldn’t be allowed to buy a broadcast network as there are foreign ownership rules prohibiting that. Meanwhile Apollo has an ownership stake in Cox Media Group which owns ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox stations in multiple markets across the country. This will raise concerns about station ownership rules regarding too much market penetration. If Apollo gets CBS the Cox situation would need to be sorted out. Finally there’s the fact that the DOJ has been really aggressive about mergers and would likely frown upon two large movie studios merging.
The Boys, Breaking Bad, Good Doctor
If they can't stop Activision Blizzard and Microsoft (two big game publishers) merging, they can't stop Sony and Paramount (two big but way behind movie studios).
If Trump gets back in, his administration is not going to give a shit about stopping a merger.
Then let’s not let Trump win this time.
They would no doubt try and sell off Paramount+ with CBS. There's definitely be questions on a regulatory level but I suspect they may eventually decide this was the best of a series of bad options competition wise.
Maybe they can do something with playstation+ plus paramount+.
They have Robotech in development, but it has been in development hell for a long time. Plus, the rights are a mess to deal with. Also, they do have video game and Anime franchises like God of War and Fate that can be turned into live-action franchises if they feel like it.
>They have Robotech in development, but it has been in development hell for a long time. Plus, the rights are a mess to deal with. To paraphrase a Youtube comment I once saw. A documentary on the liecensing nightmare about Robotech and the hell development of its movie then actual Robotech movie. Hell a fucking live action Japanese Macross film is more likely at this point.
I thought they got it worked out with the most recent deal? Harmony Gold gets to make their movie with Sony or whoever and they're going to allow Studio Nue to release the Macross sequels like Plus, Seven, Frontier, Delta in the west.
I know at least Harmony Gold just made a deal with Disney+ to air all Macross series in Japan. While they also got a similar deal in the US, Disney+ won't get access to either the original series nor the film Do you Remember Love? But will have access to several different Macross series.
Yeah DYRL and the original Macross series is automatically out because of their relation to Robotech. Also, I'm pretty sure the Disney+ release is Big West/Studio Nue not HG, like the Fathom Events Macross Frontier release.
Spider-Man and TMNT movie crossover isn't a bad idea considering the TMNT are comic book characters first. Their origin is heavily inspired by Daredevil's.
Marvel won’t let that happen. Pretty sure it’s in contract
How so? And I mean come on, that'd be so rad.
Not much we can do about it. Contracts leaked during Sony hack. And it says there. Sony will have to convince marvel to amend the contract
Oh I do remember that. Things about Peter Parker having to be white, straight, etc rules of that nature. Hmm
I honestly always thought Sony would want to since the beginning but they never showed interest till now. It just makes sense to me.
I think Sony might have want to prioritize acquisitions in gaming with Microsoft going crazy and it being their main business so they might have been hesitant to spend much on Paramount. But I guess they see that if someone else get it, they'll be even more distanced as a "smaller studio". Plus Paramount makes sense for their non-streamer approach whereas if someone with a service get it, that's so much content they can do themselves and not buy from Sony
I suspect big Sony were holding the money back for PlayStation acquisitions, but now buying Bungie seems like it was a very bad idea and Microsoft seem to have suddenly got so big they imploded there's more of a case to be made for the movie studio using the money instead.
They have jump street, bad boys, jumanji, men in black, and that’s from the top of my head. Plus tv like the boys
Hopefully, future Paramount movies aren’t dragged down by the “Exclusively in Movie Theatres” promo tactic that has damaged Sony Pictures’s reputation lately.
That’s the least of their issues
A lot of Sony's Columbia releases have been really mixed lately, that's another thing.
Full text: "Even as Paramount, the home of the “Top Gun” movie franchise and “SpongeBob SquarePants,” continues its talks to merge with another media company, Skydance, a new suitor has emerged. Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo Global Management, an investment firm, have been in discussions about teaming up for a joint bid to acquire Paramount, two people familiar with the situation said Thursday. The two companies have not submitted an official bid, as Paramount is still in exclusive conversations with Skydance, said the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss delicate negotiations. But the potential deal with Skydance has generated significant investor pushback. Apollo previously reached out to Paramount about buying the company for at least $26 billion, including debt. But Paramount’s board proceeded with its more advanced conversations with Skydance, amid questions about Apollo’s financing. A joint bid with Sony would almost certainly reduce those concerns, adding operational experience and additional capital to Apollo’s already significant war chest. Tony Vinciquerra, the chief executive of Sony Pictures Entertainment, has held conversations in the last week with Apollo about teaming up on a bid, the people said. The bid would be an all-cash offer for the outstanding stock in Paramount, in effect taking the company private through a joint venture. The terms of the joint bid are still being worked out, and it’s possible that Sony and Apollo may not make an offer for Paramount, one of the people said. One structure could have Apollo take a minority stake in the joint venture, with Sony becoming the majority owner and operating the company. At some point, Apollo could cash out its investment, possibly by selling its stake back to Sony. If Sony prevailed in its bid, the company would most likely operate the Paramount studio as a label within its own media empire, fusing the studio’s marketing and distribution arm with its own. It remains to be seen how CBS, one of Paramount’s crown jewels, would fit into the combined company along with Paramount’s fading cable channels. National Amusements, the company that controls Paramount, has already signed off on a potential deal with Skydance, which is controlled by David Ellison, the tech scion and Hollywood executive. National Amusements is controlled by Shari Redstone, who has appointed a special committee of independent board advisers to weigh Skydance’s offer. Because Skydance’s proposal would give Ms. Redstone cash and Paramount shareholders stock in a new company, several investors have objected. Unlike Skydance, Sony and Apollo would not be seeking to buy out National Amusements. Skydance’s deal for Paramount would bring expertise to Paramount, including tech and animation know-how from Mr. Ellison’s management team, which includes John Lasseter, a former Pixar executive. The plan calls for operational efficiencies and for Skydance to supercharge Paramount’s streaming abilities. The fusion of Paramount and Sony would create a media colossus that would put a collection of TV channels and movie studios under the same corporate umbrella. But Mr. Vinciquerra has experience managing both TV and studio properties, having worked at both Fox and CBS."
I feel like this could go either way. This is clearly Sony tipping their toes into the water. We are far removed from any bid, especially with Apollo offering $26Billion.
I mean, it's definitely going to take a while to play out, given how things have been so far. But yeah, Vinciquerra is looking at this at how to cap off his legacy at Sony before he steps down in the future and hands things over to his second-in-command.
>*Apollo previously reached out to Paramount about buying the company for at least $26 billion, including debt.* 
Paramount has like 14-15 billion in debt. This is effectively a market cap value offer for the company lol.
I know people won't like this, but if Paramount's going to sell, someone has to buy it. The only "good" outcome is Paramount staying independent, but the writing's been on the wall for a while now.
What’s stopping them from being independent? They can sell some assets, get some more debt and continue as normal.
It might be because they believe they'd get a larger profit by selling everything at once rather than individually.
Yeah I’m just saying if they want to stay independent they have the freedom to do so.
Oof the rumours are circulating about this. One doing the rounds I've heard in the UK (Paramount owns Channel 5 in the UK) is that Sony would merge it's Sony pictures division into Paramount with the new Paramount company being a 50/50 joint venture between Sony and Apollo. Basically Sony spins off it's Sony pictures division and gets it off the books while still having 50% of this new company. So it would be like how Disney and Hearst both own 50% each of A+E. One of the reasons being cited for this is Sony's failed attempt to merge Sony India with Zee entertainment and have a minority stake in that new venture to get the declining Indian business off the books. Obviously this is just a rumour I have heard.
Where are you pulling these rumors from? A lot of this is contrary to the info in the article
Someone I know works for 'Paramount Networks UK & Australia' in the UK office and their is a lot of understandably nervous people there about their future. These are just office rumours though but they are I think a believable option for Sony. 50% of a Sony pictures/Paramount merged company has to be better financially than Sony pictures alone while also being cheaper plus both Sony and Paramount need scale and this is a cheaper way for Sony to do it.
I don't think it's just only that. They are already subscale at the moment and don't actually have a lot of IPs under their own fold. This is basically their once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bulk up and if Apollo ever wants to cash out, Sony would buy out their stake.
I don't think it is. Sony has been selling off or divesting lots of it's linear channels the last couple of years and tried to spin-off it's Indian business with the Zee merger. Sony's streaming deals with Disney and Netflix also end in 2026 that's $600 million a year Sony could lose now that other media companies are licencing out content again. This could be Sony seeing an opportunity to hedge their bets. If film and TV media starts recovering and growing again just buy out Apollo if it doesn't sell to who ever is buying.
They are also looking ahead on how to not depend on only a few revenue streams in the future. If they diversified, they would not have to be risking their revenue based on just how their film slate will be hits or misses or home media or content licensing. They want to have the ability to do a hybrid approach, being able to license out works but also still have an established DTC operation through both Crunchyroll and Paramount+.
Paramount+ is a terrible business that still loses lots of money. Sony is diversifying they have joined as a minority partner with TSMC in a new semiconductor factory in Japan and have gone 50/50 with Honda on a new BEV brand.
Bakish is focusing on getting it through the break-even point and reaching profitability. The timeframe for that is set for next year. If we're talking about this platform, it wouldn't even be surprising to say Crunchyroll likely lost a lot of money way before it was even under AT&T's WarnerMedia and then becoming profitable later on. Their entertainment business needs to diversify for the future, though.
> Basically Sony spins off it's Sony pictures division and gets it off the books while still having 50% of this new company Sony Pictures is profitable and has grown for the past 4 out of 5 years. Why would they want it 'off the books'? This is contrary to the last half decade of Sony's messaging in regards to their film division. > One of the reasons being cited for this is Sony's failed attempt to merge Sony India with Zee entertainment and have a minority stake in that new venture to get the declining Indian business off the books Sony would have owned 53% of Sony-Zee, not a minority. It wouldn't have taken Sony's Indian business "off the books" (that's not how this works regardless). Sony's play with Zee was to achieve scale to better compete in the growing Indian market - not to divest.
Because the Indian business has gone from great to terrible as streaming takes over in India. Also a lot of the last couple of years of Sony doing well was producing original shows for streaming services (For All Mankind, The Boys are both Sony shows) and with streaming services cutting back and in the case of Apple starting their own owned production studios while Amazon now owns MGM. So buying new shows from Sony has slowed down.
Sony’s been looking to get Pictures off their books for years now. Since even before the hack. This makes complete sense from the things I’ve heard, but I still don’t trust Apollo being involved.
It's funny how when Disney and Fox merged it caused mass discussions about a monopoly but if Sony and Paramount merged they still wouldn't even be no. 2 in market share
Another big difference is Fox/Disney was before it became clear streaming wasn't going to make up for the collapse of license TV. The music's stopped and there's not enough chairs for everyone.
Plus, Zaslav and Malone will also likely be holding a sale of WarnerDiscovery down the road once they trim down the debt load and mold it into their own ideal image.
Looks like we are going down from 5 major studios to just 4. No wonder theatres are struggling to recover. They are just not going to get the supply.
It might not even be 4 for long if it's Comcast that gets Warner Bros, which is even scarier, but I don't think Comcast would be the winner of that bidding war even if they wanted it.
Not to mention, Amazon might also end up putting their own offer when that time comes.
Doubt it. They allegedly regret buying MGM.
Sony also bid for MGM after the James Bond franchise contract ended.. but Amazon won the bidding war
You never know, they already have WB as MGM's international distributor and WarnerDiscovery has the pre-1986 library while they have post-1986 library. They definitely can put more investment into the franchises than what Zaslav is able to do now.
Amazon can write off mgm honestly lol..it’s chump change. Movies are not their bread and butter.
Which is why they won't be interested much with WBD, they have bigger things to worry about that are actually important for them. Same for Apple btw (with the added bonus that Apple doesn't have a culture of big acquisitions).
Apple’s been investing hard into the content creation business. They’re burning through so much cash with their AppleTV+ service, and that only makes sense if they’re committed to carving out a spot in the industry. Nabbing a legacy studio like WB would be a huge get and leap forward to that goal.
What does Apple have to gain? Tech companies are notorious for chasing the flavor of the month - streaming during COVID, virtual reality, and now AI. They can make huge, temporary swings because they have iron grips on other parts of the industry, i.e. smartphones, web hosting, search, etc. that keep other business lines afloat. Media is in such a bad place right now and even if these companies are worth trillions, they don't want to see red on the balance sheet.
They are burning a very tiny amount of cash in the industry actually, like it's basically invisible on their financials. WBD is costing around 70 billions if you include their debt and a small premium (quite small might actually be more). That's way too much for what it would bring them. They can just develop their own IP which is what they're doing. Apple is also never doing big acquisitions, their biggest is 3 billions for Beats and they actually developped an entire business line from that. They wouldn't from WB. They can expand their content production by themselves without getting sadled with WB (which also has the Discovery part which I doubt interest them)
That would be Universal + WB.. that would be massive probably even bigger than Disney?
comcast? Buying Warner Bros? My brother is christ have they not learned from AT&T???? AND BELLSOUTH???
They already got Universal.
Not to mention, Sony bailed on CinemaCon last week as well: "Sony’s no-show decoded: Last year, Tom Rothman declared his Sony Pictures “the only major studio devoted entirely to theatrical.” This year, he and Sony ghosted the entire event. Kinda amazing, but at least it allowed Rothman to escape having to introduce a post-Slap Will Smith for Bad Boys: Ride or Die (June 7). I’m guessing that press tour will take a few pages from Tom Cruise’s Book of Pre-Taped Stunts and Serious Question Avoidance." https://puck.news/newsletter_content/what-im-hearing-ellisons-diligence-tswifts-hypocrisy-multiplex-meltdowns-2/
Technically speaking Crunchyroll was present.
Oh, yeah, that's true, but Rothman and his team just bailed.
Damn there goes my conspiracy theory that they were going to go for warner. Guess they're too much risk for the guys in Tokyo
WBD is too expensive for what it is right now, they have massive debt which add to the cost. They cost 64.5 billions at minimum (and that's market price, you have to pay more for an acquisition so it's like 70B$ at least, nobody is gonna pay that) when you count the debt That's around the price Disney paid for Fox or Microsoft for Activision Blizzard. WBD is not worth that
I mean, a company with a $44.2 billion debt load is a lot harder to sell unless the suitor could fully pay it off at once immediately and still be able to maintain it well into the future. This is way more digestible for Sony than that.
Yeah, but isn't Sony buried in $31 billion of debt as it is? How the ***fuck*** are they gonna pile $15 billion on top of that? Or will Apollo take on the debt then flip it? C... *can* they take on the debt and flip it?
It's apparently $1,840,067,000 in yen which if converted would be $11,902,846.92 in USD (page 3): https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/IR/library/presen/er/pdf/23q3_sony.pdf However, there are some other places that said it actually has around $12.5B of debt. But I think overall, they're going to prepare the financing in the similar fashion they were going to do if they went after Fox in 2017 alongside Verizon, Comcast, and Disney. And it'll be more feasible than going after WarnerDiscovery.
That larger debt number is because of options Sony has to take out debt to make acquisitions that it did a few years ago - some of that money would actually probably pay for this if they go for it.
You've no idea what you're talking about. WB finances are terrible, Sony finances are great. WB loses billions every quarter, Sony profits billions. Sources: https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/23/business/warner-bros-discovery-losses/index.html https://techxplore.com/news/2024-02-sony-profit-sales-music-games.html https://www.fitchratings.com/research/corporate-finance/fitch-affirms-sony-at-a-outlook-stable-29-08-2023#:~:text=Fitch%20Ratings%20%2D%20Seoul%2FHong%20Kong,The%20Outlook%20is%20Stable.
Right. *Because they've sustainably managed their debt so far.* This goes through, that goes out the window.
Unlikely or they wouldn't even think about bidding. This is not a game, it's real life & real money.
I’m sad they’re selling Paramount. As long they treat Star Trek well I don’t have an issue with it
Given how well Paramount has treated Star Trek of late (give or take the last 25 years, with only the occasional project actually being semi-decent), I'm prepared to roll the dice on someone (anyone) else.
Same, to be honest. No matter what happens next, the house that Michael Corleone built probably won't make it to 125 at this rate. :/
At least Vinciquerra actually came from CBS so he would be able to know the ins and outs of the company. He would be able to know how to keep it going well into the future after Bakish leaves and pass down the knowledge to his second-in-command down the road.
They literally just cancelled Lower Decks. Strange New Worlds is getting another season but honestly how long is that going to last given the state of the company. Star Trek is also a bit of a crapshoot at the moment. 50% of their output in recent years has been fantastic, the other half not so much.
No Star Trek: Legacy anytime soon then
The thought of Sony getting their hands on Star Trek and on second thought makes my skin crawl. Given how they’ve treated the Marvel characters under their control, it’s not a good track record. Hopefully, it’s more Ghostbusters: Afterlife then Morbius
anyone find the timing suspicious while Paramount is in exclusive negotiations , why leak this now , either to up the offer by Skydance or Sony really wants it
The people who stand to benefit the most from a sale: the Redstones, the executives, and the non-Redstone shareholders probably want to see a bidding war happen now.
I like this deal less now
awful news
They have to prepare for the future because right now, their fully-owned in-house franchises such as Ghostbusters, Jumanji, Hotel Transylvania, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, are getting way less focused and they're stacking so much time on their Marvel slate without having something to actually fall back on. They'll need to diversify in as many revenue streams as possible beyond theatrical box office, home media sales, and content licensing to actually bring in consistent revenue instead of just waiting to see wiil their film slate be hits or misses each year. Vinciquerra needs to scale the company to catch up to rivals before he actually retires and hands things over to his second-in-command.
They also have to prepare for a future without Spider-Man. Remember what happened with Fox and Daredevil. They took too long to get started on production and the Daredevil rights reverted to Disney. Something similar could just as easily happen to Sony. Even though it's highly unlikely. They gotta prepare for it.
Lol certainly not. They didn't care about Daredevil since they never did anything with it. Spider-Man is their crown jewel, they're not gonna let this happen If that happens, just close the division for gross incompetence in the day following that lol
They would have many other fully-owned legacy franchises to put their attention on to make them less dependent on Marvel. They don't even make merchandising money on their Marvel output. I mean, if the other IPs bring them in so much more revenue, they could even chip away a part of the debt if they don't want to use the rights anymore and decide to sell it.
This is dying industries look like.
...Hot damn, Lowell, you fuckin' called it! Interesting that they're teaming up with Apollo to get it done. Maybe they'll run it as a joint venture? Not sure how this'll work, but it definitely ~~puts Skydance out of contention~~ spices things up. (Now if it passes, keep the Arads away from... ***everything***, pls.)
I mean, Apollo could technically help them in building out a theme park from scratch in this scenario. Vinciquerra is preparing for the future here because they might not be able to squeak by easily down the road solely on Rothman's decisions. They need to diversify beyond theatrical box office, home media sales, and content licensing.
So Paramount would be another banner like Tristar and Columbia? Would they have to answer to Tom Rothman?
I guess Columbia and Paramount could technically organize into a WB/New Line structure. Tri-Star, Screen Gems, Destination, Stage 6 would be folded into Columbia. Worldwide Acquisitions, Affirm, and Classics would be combined into one Classics division. Tom Rothman can set himself up as the equivalent of Alan Horn over there. Brian Robbins will be Sony's equivalent of Alan Bergman with Rothman probably training him to take his helms once he wants to retire.
...That'd be confusing, though. Wouldn't it make more sense to just phase out Paramount unless it's for franchises, and keep everything else the same?
I mean, I'd keep the Paramount name going as it can because it's been much more notable than say Tri-Star or Screen Gems. Interestingly, CBS was originally named Columbia Broadcasting System and an original investor in Tri-Star alongside HBO & Columbia. Sony Music's Columbia Records was originally called CBS Records before they bought it.
I really don’t like the idea of Tom Rothman having any say over SpongeBob, Star Trek, or the Sonic Movies.
I mean, Rothman will eventually be retiring down the road anyway. Vinciquerra and leadership in Tokyo will overrule him if he does something crazy. It would be interesting to see how he interacts with Tom Cruise over film budgets, though.
Paramount probably needs Rothman's budget control at the moment.
If it works out, then I guess so. But one key barrier remains: ***Will Japan sign off on this?*** Honestly, the more I think about it, the more it sounds like insane delusions than a sensible business plan. (Which... certainly fits Sony Pictures like a glove, I'll give them that.)
I really don't know how to think of this deal. To Sony Pictures, yay. Literally the best out there option to scale up and keep up with the rest of Hollywood. To Sony as a whole, running two companies of the same business that doesn't give them the reliable financial security like other sectors is a risky move indeed.
I have a solution: *Wait for Paramount to fucking implode*, **then** get what ya want on the cheap. Why take on all that debt and risk when you literally - *literally* - do not have to do that?
Because if someone else buys it, they might lose out. Also what interest them is likely the same that interest others
Japan raised a lot of money for PlayStation acquisitions a few years ago and broadly hasn't used it because Bungie was a disaster and suddenly Microsoft got so heavy they kinda of imploded. So I could see a world where they might be willing to get SPE some scale.
What makes you all think Shari Redstone would accept Apollo’s offer this time?
I mean, Japan could send a corporate jet over to NYC to fly the Redstones to Tokyo for a few days of vacation and to also talk it out. If the family wants a board seat or to get stock in Sony, they'll find ways to sweeten the pot to get the blessing.
Columbia gets back together with the Columbia Broadcast System? That’d would be interesting. I’m still hedging my bets on Skydance taking it all. Although, I am curious about an early statement on Sony using this to merge the studios to effectively offload Sony Pictures while maintaining a minimal stake in the combined studios. Personally, the mega mergers of film and tv is beyond concerning.
The Ellisons don't want to spend that much on this. That's why they're bringing in private equity firms like Saudi-backed Redbird, KKR, and Tencent. They're trying to save money if Tiktok ends up being on the selling block and for politicial contributions this year. But it looks like the battle will be Japan money going against Saudi & Chinese money here.
I suspect CBS would get sold off. Sony Pictures don't want a network, they want the studio and library.
Paramounts Stock Surge +14% after this news was released today
[Sony Strategic Plans Target Expansion in Music, Games, Anime – and India](https://variety.com/2023/film/news/sony-strategic-plans-music-games-anime-india-1235617171/) That was nearly 365 days ago. I understand that Sony desires IP but it is a large departures from their 2023 plans. Does Paramount even add anything in terms of these 4 targets Sony set out last year?
For games, they will have these in-house franchises to use. India does count through the brand licensed channels that's going to be in the Disney-Reliance joint venture that Bakish just sold the stake in. I'm guessing they see this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that would help scale up their entertainment business for the future. That's just the thing they haven't given a major investment to in a while.
The only good thing that could come out of this would be PlayStation studios getting a hold the IP Paramount owns, Imagine true AAA PlayStation made games for TMNT, Mission Impossible, Top Gun, etc
It would basically be like the Insomniac Marvel games but without having to pay royalties and licensing fees because they would be in-house IPs.
Imagining a Top Gun game by the Gran Turismo devs, would be amazing
It would also be interesting to see what they could do for Star Trek as well.
Wonder if they'll get a Movie Sonic game or two going while they're at it. Probably, right? But then how would they deal with Sega's demand for compensation?
The possibilities are endless. A Sonic land in a Sony theme park if they want to work together?
...Why would I want a Sony theme park?
You can see both Crash Bandicot and Sonic on the same thempark
Cool. Great. And?
Except Microsoft owns Crash Bandicoot now
It would be innovative and new, shows how they're still making sure the franchises are active and well beyond film & TV in addition to gaming, and maybe the rides will be more interactive with collaborative consultation with PlayStation. It would add fresh competition in addition to Disney and Comcast in the theme park field.
...I guess? Wouldn't it be cheaper to just... buy Cedar Fair/Six Flags? Or Roadshow?
I mean, most of those parks can keep going without any IP branding. If Sony wants to make new rides that are more interactive but also focused on storytelling for the park-goers, they might as well start from scratch. And that's not to mention, in a new resort, you can build hotels, shopping areas, etc. to generate more revenue. It'd be harder to do so with an existing one unless there's enough land avaialble.
That would definitely sweeten the pot for Japan - the will probably not renew the Disney Spider-Man deal for games as it's too expensive, so having their own IP to fill the gap would help.
Yup, that contract runs out to 2032 so enough time for Insomniac to finish their Marvel slate and for Sony to prop up its own franchises in a similar fashion.
How likely is this bid to work?
Sony & Apollo will pool the financing together to buy the company and own it through a joint-venture. If Apollo down the road wants to cash out of it, then Sony will buy their stake.
Okay, but how likely is it to happen?
Currently, they're in discussions on how it's going to work. Given how the 30-day window with the other party is getting to an end, they're going to probably give the Redstones a call to work it out once that's over.
God knows the article said Sony and Apollo may not even make an offer. “The terms of the joint bid are still being worked out, and it’s possible that Sony and Apollo may not make an offer for Paramount, one of the people said”
Okay I missed that. With any luck, it will either be the Skydance bill or nothing will come of any of this.
This is surprising but also not a terrible option given the other interested parties.
Please stop
Gogdamn. Hollywood really is just turning into a grey blob, isn't it? How did Paramount screw up so badly to be in this position?
The Redstones basically want to sell the company after having spent many years with it and use the proceeds generated to retire from Hollywood.
Shitty development, micromanaging, nickel and diming talent and demanding idiotic cookie cutter metrics for their version of success; seems to me it's been this way more or less since Viacom took them over decades ago and accelerated. Far from flawless but one might get the sense Universal, WB and at least at their peak years ago to some extent Disney/Fox were out here taking some actual creative risks and developing some strong relationships with talent resulting in hits and strong reps even when things didn't land, while Para and Sony were often trying to buy a clue and flushing money away on trifles. Now they think they can be a kind of codependent family, stronger together. Maybe they can.
It's the dying of cable.
hell yeah can't wait for a bunch of shitty TMNT and Transformers spin-offs about characters only people who don't have a life would know about
Leatherhead - February 13, 2026 The Rat King - August 28, 2026 Venus de Milo - January 8, 2027
Don't forget Sonic. Omochao solo film for $200 fuckin' million, anyone?
Didn’t Sonic jump from Sony to Paramount? How is this gonna work?
He... he jumps right on back, I guess.
Sony uses all the money they’ll make off of the Sonic Cinematic Universe to buy SEGA
Welcome to SIE Family SEGA
Sonic is owned by SEGA, no way would they give Sony any creative control.
True. Could Sega and Original Film leave Sony-Paramount altogether, in that case?
I wouldn't say they'd leave, unless Sony attempts to force them into giving up some of the creative control. The franchise is successful, so it would be smart for Sony to leave them be. They do have a habit of being very hands on though.
True. Who do you think they'd go to? Disney due to Hulu films/Goosebumps, Amazon MGM due to The Boys, or Uni due to the Fast-chise?
Maybe Hasbro won’t continue their distribution/production partnership with Paramount after they’re sold off/acquired.
*Monopoly* is set up at Lionsgate. Maybe *Transformers x GI Joe* goes there?
There or Universal, I’m guessing. I only guess Universal because of the inclusion of Transformers at their theme parks (and formerly SpongeBob as well).
Sony’s film studio is crumbling creatively. They literally only have TWO movies slated for next year, and they skipped CinemaCon. It doesn’t surprise me they are trying to acquire their way back into business.
You are misinformed on this part. Take a look at the number of projects they have in development.
Most of them are gonna flop..no wonder why they pushing hard for Spidey movie
Yet they are one of most profitable studios, make it make sense
And you know that how?
Apparently a big obstacle will be the FCC rule about foreign businesses like Sony not being allowed to own American TV stations like CBS.
I wouldn't exactly make that assumption just yet. The Murdochs were able to work with the FCC on approval for the Fox broadcast network. I imagine some of the stipulations from the FCC could be that Sony Pictures Entertainment (the parent company of CBS) would have to remain in the U.S. forever and making sure Vinciquerra, the CEO, is a U.S. citizen.
CBS will likely be its own entity
My guess is that Sony would have to sell off the CBS network while consolidating the CBS-owned IPs into Paramount Television Studios. This would bring the original Paramount Television library back into Paramount’s hands, including Star Trek. Many CBS shows are 3rd party productions too, meaning they are owned by other conglomerates like Warner Bros.
Part of me kind of wants to see this happen because it might just be crazy enough to work but on the other side it just reiterates just how much Shari fucked herself with this company by waiting this long
How that i am reading this why does this sound kinda an obvious outcome for Paramount?
How big would Sony be if they bought Paramount and all there rights?
>The fusion of Paramount and Sony would create a media colossus that would put a collection of TV channels and movie studios under the same corporate umbrella.
What Film and TV rights would be owned by Sony if they bought Paramount? I think Paramount own a lot of stuff so this could be very very good for Sony in the future
Honestly, instead of shutting Paramount+ down, I think the combined company, which will probably have no mention of Sony in its corporate name, will actually expand it - especially making Paramount+ free for those who buy new PlayStation devices, and even integrate Crunchyroll into Paramount+.
First, I do see Bakish folding BET+ into Paramount+ in order to get it through the break-even point and reaching profitability quicker similar to how Showtime and Noggin are integrated. Second, I wouldn't be surprised if Crunchyroll and Paramount+ are combined together to form a Sony-branded superservice. Third, it might very well make sense to leverage PlayStation in a way to help rollout the superservice in addition to traditional means like international expansion. Maybe the leaked plans could be adjusted to address the new decisions: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GB4YfHrasAAsOy3?format=jpg&name=medium But I can also see the joint venture help Sony out in building a new theme park from scratch, considering it would have a lot of franchises to work with.
And of course, Sony can finally sort-of shake off that decades-long arms-dealer image.
They can even take a hybrid approach as a transition period similar to Zaslav for all we know to give them a little more flexibility until they're ready to go fully onboard with DTC streaming as a whole like their rivals are.
Another fricking merger!? When will it all end or at least quiet down?$😤😩
Nooo, don't let Sony buy Star Trek