May 4 (Reuters) - A special committee of the Paramount

Global ( PARAA ) board charged with evaluating offers for the

company met Saturday morning, though rival bidders for the

studio are awaiting word on next steps.

Paramount ended its exclusive negotiations with Skydance

Media without a deal on Friday, allowing the special committee

to entertain other offers for the home of "Mission: Impossible"

and "SpongeBob SquarePants."

Paramount's special committee has yet to contact Sony

Pictures Entertainment, which, together with private equity firm

Apollo Global Management ( APO ), sent a letter on Wednesday

expressing interest in acquiring Paramount, according to two

sources familiar with the matter.

Meanwhile David Ellison's Skydance, which has been engaged

for months in deal talks with Paramount and its controlling

shareholder, Shari Redstone, is evaluating its options, Reuters

previously reported.

A spokesperson for the special committee could not be

reached for comment.

Paramount, like other studios, has been struggling to

recover from last year's months-long strikes by Hollywood

writers and actors, a soft advertising market and falling cable

subscriptions in the United States that has eroded profit for

its TV business.

Its streaming service, Paramount+, also trails rivals such

as Netflix ( NFLX ) and Disney+ in subscriber numbers - even

though Redstone had hoped the merger of CBS and Viacom in 2019

would help the combined company, later renamed Paramount Global ( PARAA ),

compete better.

Shares of Paramount have fallen more than 65% since then,

losing more than $14 billion in market value.