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Cryptocurrency mogul Brock Pierce, Kazakh investor Nurali Aliyev and Hollywood producer Steven Paul are part of the investor group behind Edgar Bronfman Jr.’s last-minute bid to stop the planned merger of Skydance Media and Paramount Global, TheWrap has learned.
According to the signed bid submitted to Paramount’s Special Committee on Monday night and obtained by TheWrap, those investors are in a group of 19 financial backers for the parent company of the legendary Hollywood studio.
In addition to Bronfman himself, the group also includes Fortress Investments, the private equity group funded by Japan’s Softbank and India’s Mubadala.
Pierce is a controversial figure who has been at the forefront of the cryptocurrency and blockchain movement, co-founding the venture capital firm Blockchain Capital in 2013. He achieved a net worth estimated at between $700 million and $1 billion and ran for president as an independent in 2020, but has recently been mired in legal disputes in Puerto Rico.
Pierce has been hit with lawsuits that claim, among other things, manipulation and deception over his investments. He has denied the claims.
Aliyev is the grandson of former Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev, who was found hanged in an Austrian jail in 2015 after being charged with the murder of two bankers in 2007. In 2019, Britain’s National Crime Agency attempted to force Aliyev and his family to explain where they got the money to buy their properties in London after claims that they were acquired using funds from unlawful activity. Aliyev called the investigation “entirely without merit” and a high court judge overturned the NCA’s decision.
He is the founder and shareholder of Capital Holding JSC and shareholder at Transtelecom JSC.
Meanwhile, Paul is the current chairman, founder and CEO of Crystal Sky Pictures and produced the Scarlett Johansson action film “Ghost in the Shell” in 2017 and the “Baby Geniuses” franchise. He previously mulled a bid for Paramount in June with John Paul DeJoria, who said they would be averse to breaking the company up if their bid was accepted.
Other investors in Bronfman Jr.’s bid include SP Neptune Holdings, LLC, Bronfman Aggregator LLC, Keith Frankel, Simon Falic, Alan Mruvka, The Roundtable LLC Series 154, Brian Koo, Homan Simian, LAC Leman Media II, LP, Jonathan Miller, WTT Investments, Jeff and Laura Ubben, John Paul Dejoria, BC Partners Advisors L.P. and Fortress Investment Group LLC.
The bid was submitted to the special committee on Monday night. The offer includes $2.4 billion to acquire National Amusements Inc., $1.5 billion to pay down Paramount global debt and the remaining money to pay a $400 million Skydance deal-breakup fee.
The move came two days ahead of the expiration of the 45-day go-shop provision in Skydance Media’s merger deal struck last month, in which Paramount would pay a breakup fee in the event that it receives a better offer from another bidder that Skydance doesn’t match.
Under the terms of the Skydance deal, which had been expected to close in the third quarter of 2025 subject to regulatory approval, NAI would receive $2.4 billion, including $1.75 billion for the equity and the assumption of $650 million in debt, while non-NAI shareholders will receive $4.5 billion.
If accepted by Paramount’s special committee, which has been evaluating bids for the beleaguered entertainment company, Bronfman will have until Sept. 5 to negotiate a merger agreement, under an extended window set out by Paramount.
An individual close to the deal told TheWrap that an extension was expected on that date.
