Could Paramount's flirtation with Bronfman strain the Skydance deal?

Just when the $8.4-billion deal for David Ellison’s Skydance Media to buy Paramount Global was gliding toward the finish line, Shari Redstone’s roller-coaster sale took another sharp turn . Seagram liquor company heir Edgar Bronfman Jr.

this week persuaded Paramount’s independent board members to consider his rival bid for the Redstone family’s investment firm, National Amusements Inc., and a minority stake in Paramount. After spending weeks rounding up investors, Bronfman submitted his proposal late Monday — two days before the bidding window closed — and then sweetened the offer to $6 billion.

Now the stage is set for more jockeying until Paramount’s Sept. 5 deadline to decide who will win the beleaguered media company that owns CBS, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, MTV and the historic Melrose Avenue film studio. “This has been a very strange process,” Charles Elson, founding director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at University of Delaware, said Friday.

“This company has provided more ‘theater’ than any other company I can think of. ..

. It’s just remarkable that here we are.” Paramount’s decision to extend the deadline for Bronfman did not sit well with the Skydance team .

Skydance’s lawyers sent a terse letter to Paramount’s special committee of independent directors Thursday, accusing them of violating the terms of Skydance’s agreement to buy National Amusements and Paramount, according to three people familiar with the l.