(Reuters) – Veteran media executive Edgar Bronfman Jr. has submitted a roughly $4.3 billion bid to take over Paramount Global through the acquisition of National Amusements, the family holding company that owns a controlling stake in the media company, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The competing offer for the home of Paramount Pictures, the CBS broadcast network and MTV is a fresh twist in a sale process marked by a number of unexpected turns.

It threatens to undo a planned acquisition by David Ellison’s Skydance Media, which signed a deal in early July. The agreement included a 45-day “go-shop period” that is set to expire on Aug. 21.

Here are the key events in the takeover saga:

Year Events

December CBS Corp and Viacom merge to form ViacomCBS,

2019 combining mogul Sumner Redstone’s media units

13 years after a split. ViacomCBS acquires a

49% stake in film studio Miramax from BeIN

Media Group for $375 million

September ViacomCBS rebrands a CBS streaming service to

2020 Paramount+ and launches it in international

markets. Sells CNET Media Group to Red

Ventures for $500 million

November ViacomCBS agrees to sell CBS Studio Center to

2021 private firms for $1.85 billion

February ViacomCBS changes its name to Paramount

2022 Global

December The chief executives of Warner Bros Discovery

2023 and Paramount are reported to be in talks for

a potential deal between the companies

January Skydance CEO David Ellison reportedly

2024 explores an all-cash bid to acquire Paramount

parent, National Amusements

January Media entrepreneur Byron Allen submits a $30

2024 billion offer for Paramount, including debt

and equity

March India’s Reliance Industries agrees to buy

2024 Paramount’s entire 13.01% stake in local

entertainment network, Viacom18 Media, for

about $517 million

March Apollo Global Management reportedly offers to

2024 buy Paramount Pictures film studio for $11

billion

April Paramount’s board reportedly agrees to enter

2024 into exclusive merger talks with Skydance

April Paramount replaces CEO Bob Bakish with an

2024 office of CEO comprising CBS President and

CEO George Cheeks, Paramount Pictures studio

chief Brian Robbins and Chris McCarthy, head

of Showtime, MTV and other networks

June 2024 Edgar Bronfman Jr, former chairman of Warner

Music, reportedly expresses an interest in

buying National Amusements, Paramount’s

controlling shareholder

June 2024 Sumner’s daughter and National Amusements

President Shari Redstone abruptly ends talks

with Skydance

July 2024 Barry Diller’s digital media conglomerate,

IAC, reportedly explores a bid for Paramount

and enters into non-disclosure agreements

with National Amusements

July 2024 National Amusements reportedly reaches a

preliminary deal to sell its controlling

interest in Paramount to Skydance

July 2024 Skydance Media and Paramount agree to merge

in a two-step process, offering shareholders

$4.5 billion in cash or stock

August Paramount says it wrote down the value of its

2024 cable networks by nearly $6 billion and that

it would cut 15% of its US workforce

August Edgar Bronfman Jr. submits a roughly $4.3

2024 billion bid to take over Paramount Global

through the acquisition of National

Amusements

(Reporting by Priyanka.G, Yuvraj Malik and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Pooja Desai, Devika Syamnath and Shinjini Ganguli)

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