Paramount Global Not Likely Readying Itself for Sale: LightShed's Greenfield

Paramount Global probably isn't headed to the auction block, even though the company adopted handsome golden parachutes for top executives recently, LightShed Partners' Rich Greenfield wrote Tuesday in an investors note. It would likely be doing more aggressive cost-cutting if it were prepping for a sale, he wrote. In addition, it likely would have sold Showtime already instead of using the network to bolster its Paramount+ streaming service, he added. Greenfield says a major question is who would want to acquire Paramount Global. "We do not believe any tech platform (Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft or Netflix) wants to buy a collection of declining broadcast/cable networks that are tied to the fading multichannel video bundle," Greenfield wrote, adding tech platforms are probably more focused on acquiring sports rights when existing deals expire and licensing what they want instead. Legacy media companies also don't seem to be likely buyers, and Paramount Global isn't acting as if it's interested in selling component parts such as its studio or linear TV assets, he said. Instead, the company is more likely moving toward bigger cost-cutting, scaled-back ambitions for Paramount+ and additional licensing of catalog and original programming to third parties, he said. The company told the SEC last week it adopted a change in control severance plan for executives.