Is Paramount Global Looking For A Buyer?

Paramount Global PARAA CEO Bob Bakish has offered comments that give the impression his company, formerly known as ViacomCBS, would be open to being acquired.

What Happened: According to IndieWire coverage of the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, Bakish told his audience he wanted to raise some thoughts that were “missed in some of the post-investment call narrative.” In this case, the topic was about what makes a company appealing for acquisition.

“When I look at a company to buy – we’ve done a bunch of smaller deals, particularly in Latin America and you can rest assured we look at all the deals – the single most important thing is, ‘If you buy the company, can you use the content?’” Bakish said. “The answer typically is no, not for a while. Our investment strategy is increasing optionality because we’re gaining more and more control over high-quality content.”

Bakish’s comments referenced the company’s transactions from last fall that resulted in it buying a majority stake in Fox TeleColombia & Estudios TeleMexico from the Walt Disney Co. DIS. As for “gaining more and more control over high-quality content,” IndieWire noted some Paramount Pictures titles are broadcast on the Epix channel before they can go to Paramount+, while the company’s streaming acquisition of “South Park” won't go into effect until 2025.

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Why It Matters: IndieWire observed that Paramount Global’s market cap is $22 billion, which is far smaller than the caps on rivals and Comcast Corp CMCSA ($209 billion), Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN ($1.4 trillion) and Apple Inc AAPL ($2.6 trillion).

Last summer, Fox Business reporter Charles Gasparino reported the company was being shopped for acquisition, with Comcast as the most likely buyer. However, either the then-ViacomCBS would need to jettison its CBS unit or Comcast would need to get rid of its NBC asset before consummating a deal; federal law prevents one company from owning two national broadcast networks.

PARAA Stock Action: At press time, PARAA stock was trading at $37.35, which is slightly above its 52-week low of $31.18 and far from its 52-week high of $101.60.