Paramount Global indicates Simon & Schuster could be sold by end of year 

Paramount Global’s chief financial officer Naveen Chopra has said he can see a path to a deal being closed on Simon & Schuster by the end of 2023.

Speaking at the Gabelli Funds media conference in New York, Deadline reported that the c.f.o. had put a timeframe on a sale for the first time since the US Department for Justice sued to block the Penguin Random House merger, which federal judge Pan upheld.

Chopra said it was a “sizeable transaction” and “very competitive”, with interest from financial and strategic buyers, and that Paramount Global was “deep into the marketing process”.

The $2.2bn deal was originally announced in 2020 and after being successfully blocked, Paramount confirmed the termination in November 2022 of the purchase agreement. In February 2023, it was reported that Paramount was still trying to sell Simon & Schuster, and was believed to be working with a financial adviser to explore a sale that could, according to sources who spoke to Reuters, value it between $2bn and $2.5bn.

In May, Simon & Schuster reported a 19% increase in global revenue in its first quarter results, with sales of $258m (£204m) and operating income up to $58m (£46m) in the first three months of 2023.

In a letter to staff at the time, president and c.e.o. Jonathan Karp also confirmed Paramount “has resumed the process of selling Simon & Schuster”, adding: “It should come as no surprise that there are many interested parties, a reflection of the fact that we are an even more successful and more profitable company than when the sale process first began.”