Executive who launched Fox and green-lit ‘The Simpsons’ explores bid to take over Paramount

Billionaire media mogul Barry Diller is exploring a bid that would give him control of Paramount, parent company of brands like CBS, MTV, and Nickelodeon, according to The New York Times.

The process is far enough along that National Amusements, Paramount’s controlling shareholder, has signed non-disclosure agreements with IAC, Diller’s company, according to The Times.

“IAC doesn’t comment on rumors or speculation,” said in a statement following the report.

The Independent has contacted National Amusements for comment.

The rumored deal would bring things full circle for Dillare, who led Paramount Pictures in the 1970s and later lost out on a bidding war for the studio in the early 1990s.

The victor back then was Sumner Redstone, father of Shari Redstone, the current largest shareholder in National Amusements.

The alleged takeover bid would allow Diller’s IAC to control Paramount without buying the media company outright, given that National Amusements owns over three-quarters of the class A shares in Paramount.

National Amusements was reportedly near a deal in June with the Hollywood studio Skydance, producer of films like Top Gun: Maverick, and private equity firms RedBird Capital and KKR, before talks fell apart.

If Diller is in fact interested in a bid for National Amusements, it would likely cost over $2bn, the reported cost of the previous deal with Skydance, according to CNBC.

Despite the alleged takeover interest, Paramount is in the midst of a complicated economic moment, roughly $14bn in debt, and facing threats to its cable business from streaming media companies. Paramount’s own streamer, Paramount+, had 71 million subscribers but losses of $286m in the last quarter.

At a June town hall, executives outlined a plan to cut $500m in costs and discussed selling off some Paramount properties, according to The Hollywood Reporter.