Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and Apollo Global Management APO.N have made a $26 billion cash offer for Paramount Global, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The two companies submitted the non-binding offer letter on Wednesday, signed by Sony Pictures Chief Executive Tony Vinciquerra and Apollo partner Aaron Sobel, said the WSJ, citing people familiar with the matter.
Reuters reported earlier in April that Sony's SPE and Apollo were in talks to make a joint bid for Paramount.
SPE, Apollo and Paramount did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Paramount is in exclusive talks with Skydance Media and is working to build its streaming business as it faces tough competition from Netflix and Walt Disney as viewership of cable TV declines.
SPE, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Group Corporation, says its operations span movie and television production, acquisition and distribution, digital content creation and distribution, studio facility operation and the development of new entertainment products, services and technologies.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index was set to confirm it was in a bear market on Friday, down more than 20 per cent from a recent record high, as investors fled riskier assets on fears that tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump could spark a trade war and tip the global economy into recession.
UAE-based Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum, alongside their partners in the Pearl Petroleum consortium, have said the cumulative production from their Khor Mor project, the largest non-associated gas field in Iraq, has exceeded 500 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe).
China has announced a slew of additional tariffs and restrictions against US goods as a countermeasure to sweeping tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump. The Finance Ministry said it would impose additional tariffs of 34 per cent on all US goods from April 10.
Stocks limped to the end of the week on Friday, the dollar was set for its worst week in a month while gold flirted with a record peak as investors feared US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs would tip the global economy into a recession.
US stock index futures tumbled on Thursday after President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs on major trade partners heightened fears of an all-out trade war that could push the global economy into a recession.
The Ministry of Justice said seven companies reportedly based in the UAE and sanctioned by the United States for ties to Sudan do not operate in the country.
Dubai Police announced on Friday it arrested 222 beggars during Ramadan and Eid, after a campaign was launched under the slogan “An Aware Society, Free of Begging,” in partnership with other government entities.