Paramount shares fall after CNBC reports Sony rethinking its bid

(Reuters) -Shares of Paramount Global fell more than 7% on Tuesday after CNBC reported, citing sources, that Sony Pictures is rethinking its bid for the U.S. media company.

"People close to the situation that I've been speaking to of late indicate that the likelihood of a bid, at least for the full company, seems to be fading a bit," CNBC's David Faber said.

"That does not mean that there would not be some sort of bid potentially forthcoming."

Sony and Paramount did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Reuters reported last week that Paramount was in talks to open its books to a consortium of Sony Pictures and buyout firm Apollo Global Management interested in acquiring the company for $26 billion.

A special committee of Paramount's board that is evaluating the company's options had allowed an exclusivity period to lapse in its deal discussions with Skydance earlier this month.

Sony Pictures has more than 3,500 movies in its library, including franchises such as "Jumanji", "Resident Evil" and "James Bond".

Skydance had proposed a complex transaction, in which it would pay roughly $2 billion to acquire the Redstone family's holding company, National Amusements, which holds 77% of Paramount's class-A voting stock.

Paramount would then acquire Skydance in an all-stock transaction worth around $5 billion. It subsequently offered a $3 billion deal sweetener entailing a mix of share buybacks and cash that could be used to pay down debt.

(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Shounak Dasgupta)