You don’t need a degree in economics to realize these are pretty shifty financial times, and that in times like these, companies will do some pretty drastic things to more strongly position themselves in the current climate and do just about anything to cut costs. One of the ways they often do this is by merging with another company… and the movie industry isn’t exempt from that (as we have seen in recent years).
But this one struck me as surprising. Apparently there are rumblings that mega studio, Paramount, is in talks to merge with either Sony or Universal. The guys over at Latino Reviews give us this:
The CEO of Gamco Investors, who owns shares of Viacom, said that Paramont and Sony might be talking about a possible merger within the next six to 12 months.
Forbes has more:
Viacom Inc’s Paramount Pictures could merge with Sony Pictures, Universal Studios or another movie studio amid a wave of consolidation in the industry over the next few months, veteran investor Mario Gabelli said in the latest issue of Barron’s.
The chief executive of Gamco Investors Inc, who owns shares of Viacom ( VIA – news – people ), said he expects dealmaking among movie studios as they seek to cut costs.
‘Today there are seven or eight motion-picture studios. A round of consolidation will occur in the next six to 12 months because of the costs of financing, prints and advertising, the benefits of globalization and such,’ Gabelli said. ‘We hear talk of something going on.’
This makes me very nervous as a film fan. The more studios there are out there producing content means a greater variety and greater competition (to keep other studios at least a little bit on their toes). Merging these mega studios, I fear, will hurt that even more than it already is. We’ll keep an eye on this.
