If you happen to go for a drive this summer, you will still see many smaller towns with cinemas because after the movies were invented, they needed a place to be seen. All over America, cinemas were built and for generations they were part of the fabric of the community. People went to the movies, had dates, socialized before and after. Then came the internet and changes slowly happened and then fast internet came along and streaming and the whole industry changed.

In an article by Brooks Barnes of the New York Times News Service, one of the premier names of the movie industry recently changed hands. The Studio was founded in 1910 and the owner was consider a Hollywood mogul. For many years, the value of the company increased and the last time Paramount was sold it went for $10 billion in 1994 or about $22 billion in today’s dollars. The company was recently sold to Skydance for $8 billion. The owner of Skydance is David Ellison and Redbird Capital. Mr. Ellison is a movie producer and the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison who invested $6 billion of the $8 billion. One can expect Paramount to be a client of Oracle.

The assets of Paramount include: Paramount Studios, TV company CBS, 2 streaming services including Paramount Plus, cable networks such as MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, and Comedy Central.

Mr. Ellison and Redbird Capital founder Gerry Cardinale believe they can turn Paramount around using technology, cost efficiencies and synergies. They believe the can use the assets, plus storytelling in movies to increase the value of the company. Paramount has a wonderful library of films and a long history of making films the public would pay to see.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, all great companies have wonderful assets and those assets are constantly leveraged to keep customers and increase the customer base. Just because a company has wonderful assets it does not mean they can be complacent. When you examine the companies you own, what assets do they have and why are they still valuable? and will increase in value?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.