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Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) rose 3.3% in after hours trading after a report that media mogul Barry Diller and his company IAC Inc. (IAC) are exploring a bid to take control of the entertainment giant.
IAC (IAC) has signed a non-disclosure agreement with National Amusements, Paramount’s controlling shareholder, according to a New York Times report late Monday, which cited people familiar with the matter.
The nondisclosure agreements were signed sometime after Paramount’s (PARA) deal to sell Skydance Media fell through last month, according to the NYT.
Diller, once head of Paramount Pictures, tried to buy the company in the 1990s, but was outbid by Sumner Redstone, whose daughter Shari now controls Paramount through National Amusements.
The NYT report comes after CNBC earlier Monday reported that Paramount was in discussions to merge just its money-losing streaming offering Paramount+ with a partner streamer — and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is again coming up as a potential joint-venture mate