Gulf Sovereign Funds Join Paramount Bid for Warner Bros.

One of the dueling bids to acquire Warners Bros. Discovery—the one led by Paramount Skydance Corp.—has found backers in members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, joining the private equity firm Affinity Partners, run by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.  

Warner Bros. had been receiving offers from potential suitors, including Paramount, since October. Last week, Netflix Inc. announced an agreement with Warners Bros. to acquire the company for $27.75 per share, a total enterprise value of $82.7 billion, including $72 billion in equity value.  

In response, on Monday, Paramount launched a hostile bid to take over Warner Bros., including financing from state-owned entities and sovereign wealth funds from multiple Persian Gulf countries. Paramount has proposed acquiring Warner Bros. shares for $30 per share—a total enterprise value of $108.4 billion, including $77.9 billion in equity value. The Paramount offer includes Warner Bros.’ cable assets, which were not included in the Netflix offer. Paramount’s decision to make the offer public is intended to appeal to Warner Bros. shareholders, who will have the opportunity to approve or reject any deal accepted by management. 

The Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners will backstop $49.7 billion in equity capital required for the Paramount transaction, according to SEC filings. David Ellison, the CEO of Paramount Skydance, is also the son of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, whose company is in talks to acquire TikTok from ByteDance Ltd. 

According to a filing with the SEC, outside financing partners for the proposed bid from Paramount include the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, L’imad Holding Co. PJSC—an entity owned by the Abu Dhabi government—the Qatar Investment Authority and Affinity Partners.  

These investors agreed to forgo all governance rights, including board representation, rendering them passive investors in non-voting equity, according to the filing, to keep the transaction out of any potential jurisdiction of the inter-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. Chinese technology and media conglomerate Tencent will no longer be a financing partner in the transaction. 

Additionally, Apollo Capital Management, Bank of America and Citi would provide up to $54 billion in debt financing for the proposed deal.  

Warner Bros. leadership is expected to respond to the offer within 10 business days, the company said Monday.

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