In early December, Bob Bakish, CEO of Simon & Schuster parent company Paramount Global, told a UBS media conference that with the sale of S&S to Penguin Random House dead, the company still planned to divest the publisher, though he didn’t say when that may occur. A story published by Reuters last night hints that sales talks may be heating up.
Citing anonymous sources, Reuters said that Paramount is “working with a financial advisor to explore a sale of Simon & Schuster that could value it between $2 billion and $2.5 billion,” a price range that includes the $2.2 billion PRH had offered for S&S. The story added that the “process was at an early stage and a deal was not certain.” While a deal may not happen soon, it is certain that the video-focused Paramount will sell S&S, as it continues to list the publisher as a “non-core asset.”
The Reuters story offered no new details, but it reinforced the belief the Paramount will look to private equity firms as possible buyers to avoid the regulatory problems that sank the purchase by PRH. Spokespeople for HarperCollins and Hachette—two companies that have expressed interest in buying S&S—offered no comment to Reuters on the story.
Sources have told PW that Paramount would not entertain an offer from HC, fearing the deal would run into the same issues that blocked the PRH purchase. Asked for comment by Reuters, Paramount executives pointed to their previous statement that calls S&S a non-core asset.
Paramount is scheduled to release its year-end financial results tomorrow, during which executives could issue an update on the S&S sales process.
