Buyers rallied behind Paramount World‘s inventory after Byron Allen emerged as an surprising bidder within the newest twist within the media firm’s ongoing M&A drama.

Shares of Paramount World rose greater than 13% in early buying and selling Wednesday on information that the media mogul’s Allen Media Group made an unsolicited $30 billion acquisition supply to accumulate the leisure conglomerate. The inventory was buying and selling in heavy quantity at over $15/share — although nonetheless properly below its 52-week excessive of $25.93.

Allen Media Group is providing $21.53 per share for all of Paramount World’s Class B nonvoting inventory — a 57% premium over the Jan. 30 closing value of $13.68 — and $28.58/share for the Class A voting inventory, per Bloomberg, which first reported the proposal. The $30 billion price ticket would come with the belief of debt; Allen Media stated in an announcement that it has lined up unnamed “strategic companions” to fund the transaction.

Reached Wednesday, a Paramount World rep declined to remark.

If profitable in swinging a deal, Allen would dump Paramount Footage, Paramount World’s actual property belongings and a few of its mental property, whereas retaining the corporate’s TV networks and Paramount+ streaming service and working these “on a extra cost-efficient foundation,” in response to the Bloomberg report, citing nameless sources. In the meantime, Paramount World has been rumored to be mass layoffs in early 2024.

Allen’s takeout of Paramount just isn’t a fait accompli. Additionally angling to accumulate the media conglomerate is Skydance Media’s David Ellison, who has been in talks to accumulate Shari Redstone’s Nationwide Amusements Inc. (which owns a controlling stake in Paramount World).

Amid the M&A chatter surrounding Paramount World, Allen in December revived his try to purchase BET Media Group for $3.5 billion from the media conglom. That proposal clearly didn’t go wherever.

Paramount World’s TV enterprise, which incorporates CBS, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and BET, has suffered from a decline in promoting and viewership whereas its streaming division continues to be within the crimson. As of September, it reported $15.6 billion in long-term debt. The corporate is scheduled to launch This fall 2023 earnings on Feb. 28.

L.A.-based Allen Media Group’s holdings comprise 12 cable networks, together with the Climate Channel, a theatrical film distribution firm and 28 broadcast stations. The corporate additionally produces, distributes and sells promoting for 73 TV exhibits.

Pictured above: Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell in “Mission: Unimaginable Lifeless Reckoning” from Paramount Footage and Skydance