Yesterday, the NYT said there were discussions of entering exclusive talks, and now multiple outlets report the companies have entered a 30-day exclusive negotiating window. Bloomberg even says, “Shari Redstone, Paramount’s controlling shareholder, has reached a tentative agreement to sell her stake to Skydance.”

The hold up now is apparently the second step of Paramount and Skydance reaching a merger agreement. As for other hopefuls, Variety reports a $27 billion all-cash bid from the private equity firm Apollo was declined.