Just when the $8.4-billion deal for David Ellison’s Skydance Media to buy Paramount Global was gliding toward the finish line, Shari Redstone’s roller-coaster sale took another sharp turn.
Seagram liquor company heir Edgar Bronfman Jr. this week persuaded Paramount’s independent board members to consider his rival bid for the Redstone family’s investment firm, National Amusements Inc., and a minority stake in Paramount. After spending weeks rounding up investors, Bronfman submitted his proposal late Monday — two days before the bidding window closed — and then sweetened the offer to $6 billion.
Now the stage is set for more jockeying until Paramount’s Sept. 5 deadline to decide who will win the beleaguered media company that owns CBS, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, MTV and the historic Melrose Avenue film studio.
“This has been a very strange process,” Charles Elson, founding director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at University of Delaware, said Friday. “This company has provided more ‘theater’ than any other company I can think of. … It’s just remarkable that here we are.”
Paramount’s decision to extend the deadline for Bronfman did not sit well with the Skydance team.
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Skydance’s lawyers sent a terse letter to Paramount’s special committee of independent directors Thursday, accusing them of violating the terms of Skydance’s agreement to buy National Amusements and Paramount, according to three people familiar with the letter who were not authorized to discuss it.
Bronfman’s bid isn’t expected to derail the Skydance deal, according to the knowledgeable people.
But there are risks to Paramount’s late-in-the-game flirtation with another suitor.
“It’s not cost-less to do this,” said Melissa A. Schilling, a management professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business. “It is creating conflict with Skydance and, should they prevail, they are going to come in angry. That’s not a great way to start a marriage.”
Edgar Bronfman Jr. in 2019.
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(Michael Kovac / Getty Images)
Representatives of Redstone, Paramount, Bronfman and Skydance declined to comment.
Bronfman is trying to thread a needle created by a provision in the Skydance agreement, approved in July. The deal established a 45-day “go shop” window for Paramount’s board to solicit offers “superior” to that of Skydance.
Several sources speculated that Paramount’s board’s willingness to entertain Bronfman’s proposal stems from Redstone’s desire to protect her family from costly shareholder lawsuits. The sales process already has sparked litigation, and the Paramount directors’ efforts to beat the bushes could help demonstrate that there weren’t viable bidders beyond Skydance, helping them defend against shareholder actions.
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“This process could be designed to put a check mark in the due diligence box for shareholders, saying: ‘We looked out for you,’ ” Schilling said.
There could be other motivations.
The Skydance group has deep pockets, including tech titan Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle Corp., and RedBird Capital Media, a decade-old firm founded by former Goldman Sachs partner Gerry Cardinale.
Paramount may also be angling for additional concessions from the Skydance group, the knowledgeable people said.
But Skydance already has sweetened its offer for Paramount and NAI — twice.
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There could be continued heartburn over the terms of the Skydance deal. The major issue, according to shareholders, is the all-stock nature of the transaction and the plan to fold David Ellison’s smaller Santa Monica Skydance studio into Paramount.
Skydance Media founder and CEO David Ellison.
(Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Some shareholders have grumbled over the $4.75-billion valuation of Skydance, alleging the entertainment firm isn’t worth nearly that much.
Skydance co-owns some of the Paramount studio’s biggest blockbusters, including “Mission: Impossible,” “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Star Trek.” Ellison’s company also has been building an animation studio under John Lasseter, former Pixar creative executive.
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Some investors complain that the deal undervalues the holdings of Paramount shareholders while overvaluing Skydance, further diluting the value of Paramount’s stock.
That’s a scenario that played out with the disastrous AOL-Time Warner merger a quarter of a century ago, Schilling said.
“One of the things the AOL-Time Warner deal taught us is that the company that is initiating the transaction may be overvalued,” Schilling said. “AOL’s stock was valued super high because that was at the peak of the internet bubble. And AOL was able to turn a bunch of unrealized capital gains into cold hard assets.”
Skydance won support of Paramount’s board, in large part, by carving out $4.5 billion to buy shares from Paramount investors, including nonvoting Class B shares at $15 a share.
Bronfman scrambled to identify funds — a proposed $1.7-billion set-aside — to offer Class B investors $16 a share.
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Both bids would inject $1.5 billion into Paramount’s battered balance sheet, allowing the firm to pay down debt, when the deal closes. Federal regulators must weigh in, a process that’s expected to take about a year.
In addition, Bronfman said he would match Skydance’s proposal to buy out National Amusements for $2.4 billion. Once the firm’s debts of about $650 million are paid, the Redstone family would come away with $1.75 billion.
The late Sumner Redstone made sure the company, formerly known as Viacom, had two classes of stock, allowing his family to keep a tight grip. The Redstones, through National Amusements, own 77% of Paramount’s voting Class A shares.
But the bulk of the equity is held by nonvoting Class B shareholders — and that’s the problem, Elson said.
“The controlling shareholder can move on their own whim as opposed to doing what other shareholders would agree to,” Elson said.
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Shari Redstone.
(Martina Albertazzi / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Go shop” provisions are infrequent during competitive auctions but are fairly common for the sale of financial firms or privately held companies, Schilling said.
Skydance has the ability to match the terms of Bronfman’s deal.
Most observers believe Bronfman has an uphill battle to wrest the deal away from the Ellisons.
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“We simply cannot fathom why Bronfman (and components of his investor group) would be pursuing Paramount this aggressively unless the Redstones and members of the Paramount Special Committee wanted him to,” media analyst Richard Greenfield of Lightshed Partners wrote in a report earlier this week.
“Maybe the Redstones have had second thoughts about selling to Skydance/Ellison?” Greenfield wrote.
Bhavana in a still from ‘Hunt’
| Photo Credit: @GOODWILLENTERTAINMENTS/YouTube
Shaji Kailas’ brand of cinema has been a favourite for those cine-goers who celebrated the larger-than-life heroes taking centre stage with lengthy, pompous monologues, heavily choreographed action sequences and unwarranted camera angles and shots. But success has been long overdue for the director who has delivered some of the biggest blockbusters in Malayalam cinema.
After a series of misfires at the box office — despite KaduvaandKappa that celebrated alpha male heroes being declared hits — the director is back at the marquee with Hunt, headlined by Bhavana, with whom he is collaborating after the 2005 release, Chinthamani Kolacase.
Shaji has added supernatural horror to his oeuvre with the movie scripted by Nikhil Anand. Bhavana plays Dr Keerthi, a postgraduate student specialising in forensic medicine. A bold and outspoken individual, Keerthi is left with too much on her plate when the corpse of a woman (Aditi Ravi) is recovered from a river stuffed in a concrete-filled bin. Soon she starts feeling someone’s presence around her, forcing her to get involved in finding the identity of the woman and the circumstances that led to her murder.
Storyline: A student of forensics gets entangled in unravelling the mystery behind the disappearance and murder of a woman with help from the supernatural
For a change, the director has gone for a woman protagonist this time and there is enough meat in the initial scenes to keep the audience interested in the narrative, thanks to the pace of the scenes and the build-up to the situations.
Bhavana in a scene from ‘Hunt’
| Photo Credit:
@GOODWILLENTERTAINMENTS/YouTube
But that’s all you get; the script gradually loses grip and the viewers’ interest soon fizzles out. That too despite the introduction of a bevvy of characters and attempts to create an eerie ambience with a thumping soundscape. At no point does the viewer feel invested in the characters or the situations.
Bhavana does her part well, and so do the other actors — Chandunath, Anu Mohan, Suresh Kumar, Nandu, Ajmal Ameer, Rahul Madhav, Dain Davis etc. But there are no major takeaways from the film; be it in terms of scenes or performances. One gets less and less invested as the story progresses. The plot feels underwhelming, especially when the motive behind the woman’s disappearance is revealed.
With the inclusion of elements such as parapsychology, spirit and props to make it a horror thriller, the script could have had so many layers to give us a gripping narrative. That does not happen and even the attempts at creating an exciting climax fall flat. The film might be a one-time watch for those who prefer horror thrillers, but don’t expect it to blow your mind.
There are times when along comes a director, who completely changes the narrative of cinema and gives you a deep insight into social themes like patriarchy and misogyny. Tamil director PS Vinothraj gave us his debut film, Koozhangal in 2021 on these lines, and though it didn’t have a theatrical release, it was one of the most celebrated films of the year. Now, he is back with Kottukkaali (The Adamant Girl), another highly feted film – starring Anna Ben and Soori – featuring the same social themes but presented in a novel and simple way. Also read | India’s enter to Oscars: Koozhangal’s journey shaped by the struggles of directorKottukkaali movie review: The Soori and Anna Ben-starrer was released on August 23.
The premise
In Kottukkaali, which is set in a small village near Madurai, we meet Meena (Anna Ben) whose family believes she is ‘possessed’ and is all set to take her to a shaman to drive away the evil spirit. They pack themselves into an auto for the journey and the group led by Meena’s fiancé, her maternal uncle Pandi (Soori), head out on this trip. Meena’s angry family thinks she has been possessed by her lover, who they believe is from a lower caste; this road movie takes us through Meena’s journey.
PS Vinothraj is a master storyteller. who has supreme control over his craft and the characters he presents to us on screen. Meena is someone, who has just one dialogue in the film and her entire story is told through her expressions and emotions. For her, silence is power, and through this she retreats into a world that no one else can break into. She is trapped and the director depicts this using the rooster that thinks it roams free yet it is caught in a trap.
On the other hand, Pandi is a typical, petty yet aggressive, entitled male who epitomises patriarchy and the belief that women are objects that are owned. Caste plays a key role here as well as regressive beliefs that keep women in check. Unfortunately, the women also perpetuate these regressive beliefs because they don’t know any better or anything different. We see how the men think they are all-knowing and can’t get a simple thing done, like deal with the fly, and how the women are smarter by comparison.
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The performances
Anna Ben and Soori have lived out their roles in this film and their performances need to be applauded. They are the heart and soul of this film. Soori, who started off as a comedian and proved his mettle with director Vetrimaaran’s Viduthalai, has shown once again that he is a highly talented performer, who needs to be given the right role.
Kottukkaali is an experience and not just a film
Visually too, the film is a piece of art as Vinothraj takes us on a beautiful road trip with a family steeped in regressive, patriarchal beliefs from a small village in rural Tamil Nadu. The director’s writing is impeccable, while the shots and cinematography by B Sakthivel and editing by Ganesh Siva is top-notch.
Tamil star Sivakarthikeyan and producer Kalai Arasu must be congratulated for choosing to back this gem by Vinothraj, who has proved that he is an extremely talented director, whose best work is yet to come. Kottukkaali is an experience and not just a film.
“The Dudleys never say die” — and neither do the fans of “My Lady Jane.”
Fans of the Prime Video series have rallied behind an online campaign petitioning to save the historical dramedy from cancellation.
Prime Video announced on Aug. 16 that it would not renew “My Lady Jane” for a second season after the show failed to attract a wide audience or make Nielsen’s Top 10 weekly streaming rankings for originals, according to Deadline.
Representatives for Amazon Studios didn’t reply immediately Friday to The Times’ request for comment.
After the announcement, fans of the show expressed their disappointment on social media.
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“I’m so upset about this. Jane and Guildford deserved their s2. The cast deserved their s2. We had a tv show that had everything : comedy, romance, period drama, a talented cast. And it has its audience, they just don’t want to renew quality things.. #SaveMyLadyJane #MyLadyJane,” a fan wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“I say this with a broken heart but #myladyjane you have been one of the best hyperfixations, i ever had and its so f— aggravating and horrendous that those a— at prime didn’t get you like we did. #SaveMyLadyJane,” another fan said.
“I’ll never forgive them for taking them away from me. I was so excited for the first time in a long time #savemyladyjane,” a fan wrote.
“Thank you to everyone who watched My Lady Jane since it came out seven weeks ago,” creator and showrunner Gemma Burgess said on Instagram. “I am sorry and sad we can’t give you more.”
When fans saw that Prime Video had yet to announce the renewal of the show’s second season they took action, launching an online campaign to “Save My Lady Jane.” Lauren Mullaney started a Change.org petition on July 15 demanding that the show return for a second season. Since the cancellation, the petition has reached more than 20,000 signatures and is steadily growing.
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The Times was unable to reach Mullaney for comment Friday.
The petition also includes a Linktree link encouraging fans to rate and review the series on IMDb, Prime Video and Rotten Tomatoes and to follow the Save My Lady Jane group on X and Facebook while sending direct messages to Prime Video on Instagram. Additionally, it provides email templates for contacting Albert Cheng, Amazon Studios’ chief operating officer, and a general Prime Video grievance account.
Based on the book of the same name by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand and Jodi Meadows, “My Lady Jane” is a reimagining of the true story of Jane Grey, known as the “Nine Days Queen” of England, who briefly ruled in the 1500s before being overthrown by her cousin, “Bloody” Mary Tudor, just nine days later. The show takes creative liberties, reworking Jane’s tale into a “what if” scenario in which Jane, played by Emily Bader, and her husband, Lord Guildford Dudley, portrayed by Edward Bluemel, survive their historical fates.
Fans weren’t the only ones who were wishing for Season 2. In an interview conducted before the announcement but published Tuesday, Bader laid out for People what she wanted to see happen in Jane’s story in the future.
“I think for the first time in her life she is free, but she’s also not at all — because she’s left her family and her sisters in the grasp of someone who is ferociously angry with her,” Bader said, referring to the vengeful Queen Mary, played by Kate O’Flynn. “I think Jane would make a great queen. It’s always the people that don’t want it that actually are right for the job.”
