(Reuters) -Skydance Media CEO David Ellison has made a preliminary offer to buy National Amusements, the holding company of the Redstone family, as a way to take control of Paramount Global, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.
Ellison has held discussions with Paramount about merging it with Skydance Media, after he takes control, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. Both sides have hired advisers, the report added.
National Amusements and Ellison declined to comment, while Paramount did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Reuters had reported earlier this month that Ellison was exploring an all-cash bid for National Amusements, with financing from Skydance’s existing investors the Ellison family, RedBird Capital Partners and Tencent.
Paramount frequently receives expressions of interest in acquiring Paramount Pictures, but Shari Redstone, whose family controls Paramount, has been reluctant to part with one of Hollywood’s most prestigious studios, Reuters had reported.
National Amusements directly or indirectly owns 77% of the voting shares of Paramount, and also controls CBS.
(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Rashmi Aich)