Apollo Valued Paramount at $26 Billion in Overture That Was Ignored

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As Paramount, the media company that’s the home of the “Top Gun” franchise and Nickelodeon, was preparing to enter exclusive talks to sell itself to the media company Skydance, another suitor emerged. Apollo Global Management, the investment firm, told Paramount over the weekend that it was interested in acquiring the entire company for more than $26 billion, including the value of Paramount’s debt, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. It had previously submitted an $11 billion offer to acquire just the Paramount movie studio. (Paramount also owns CBS as well as other cable networks.) Paramount decided not to engage with Apollo’s overture, the people said, with one person explaining that doing so could have derailed its advancing negotiations with Skydance, which became exclusive this week. Apollo’s bid would have been subject to due diligence, which would take time, one person said. Apollo said in a letter to Paramount that it was interested in buying out all the company’s shareholders in cash, which could be enticing as the board seeks to strike a deal that not only pleases Shari Redstone, who controls Paramount, but also the company’s common shareholders.