Paramount Denies Wooing Japanese

Pioneer Electronic Corp., a major Japanese maker of audio products, said Monday that U.S.-based Paramount Communications Inc. had approached it with an offer to sell its motion pictures division.

A Pioneer official said his company declined the offer, one of several reportedly made by the U.S. entertainment and publishing giant to Japanese companies.

But Paramount denied that it sounded out several Japanese companies about a possible sale.

“It is a falsehood. We never contacted them,” said Nick Ashooh, Paramount’s vice president of corporate communications.