Paramount Turned Down $3 Billion-Plus Offer for Showtime From Former Executive

Former Paramount Global executive David Nevins offered to buy Showtime for more than $3 billion in recent weeks but was turned down by Paramount executives, according to people familiar with the situation. 

Mr. Nevins’s approach, which was backed by private-equity firm General Atlantic, was the latest in a number of offers Paramount has received over the past few years for Showtime, people familiar with the matter said. Other suitors included Mark Greenberg, another former Showtime executive who most recently ran the premium network Epix, and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., some of the people said.