Paramount Global’s (NASDAQ:PARA) board on Saturday formally gave the go-ahead for negotiations to begin on a potential acquisition by Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO) and Sony (NYSE:SONY). On May 2, Apollo and Sony sent a letter to Paramount offering a $26B bid for the studio. However, Paramount was in an exclusive negotiating window with Skydance Media that expired late on May 3 without any deal. Under an Apollo (APO) and Sony (SONY) deal, the latter would become the controlling shareholder, with the former owning a minority stake, The New York Times reported. Besides regulatory concerns, any deal would need the approval of Paramount’s (PARA) parent company, National Amusements, which is controlled by Shari Redstone. However, the Times added that National Amusements has stated it would support the special committee’s decision.