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Bronfman, Ellison & The Battle of the PowerPoints

The latest strategic considerations regarding Edgar Bronfman Jr.’s 13th-hour bid for Paramount, how the special committee is adjudicating the rival offers, and why David Ellison’s Skydance will almost certainly come out on top.

Edgar Bronfman jr.
In his proposed deal for Paramount, Bronfman would essentially step into Shari’s shoes by buying NAI. Photo: Matthew Staver/Bloomberg/Getty Images
William D. Cohan
August 25, 2024

The other day, an anonymous Paramount Global shareholder reached out to share his concerns about my reporting on the David Ellison/Skydance offer for the company and NAI, the Redstone family holding company. He perceived my work as being “in the bag” for Ellison, as opposed to the competing offer recently concocted by an investor group led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. His critique of media analysts, such as myself and LightShed Partners’ Rich Greenfield, was that we have apparently been “cheering for the Skydance offer” while, in his view, “not a single shareholder wants it.”