Amid the M&A drama enveloping Paramount Global, Bob Bakish is about to step down as CEO after eight years at the helm of Shari Redstone’s media empire.
Bakish is expected to resign under pressure as early as Monday. The executive has been with Paramount and its Viacom predecessor since 1997. He was recruited by Redstone in 2016 to help bring order to a company that had descended into public legal brawling among shareholders and a battle for control between Redstone and former Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman. Word of Bakish’s pending exit first surfaced Friday in the Wall Street Journal.
At present, Paramount‘s board of directors is deep in exclusive acquisitions talks with Skydance Media and RedBird Capital. Another group, Sony Pictures and Apollo Global Management, is poised to field a formal all-cash offer for the company next week as the May 3 expiration date…
