Paramount Skydance confirms investments by Middle Eastern wealth funds

David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance confirmed Tuesday that it has enlisted the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi as investors in connection with its takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery.

In an SEC filing, Paramount said it “believes that the successful Equity Syndication agreement with the trio of Middle Eastern funds – as well as LionTree – “marks an important milestone in the WBD transaction process, and that the resulting diversification of its shareholder base, the potential for strategic and commercial opportunities with the various Equity Syndication Parties, and the value of the Warrants described below, will enhance long-term shareholder value.”

Paramount did not elaborate on what the “strategic and commercial opportunities” might be with the Saudi, Abu Dhabi, Qatar or LionTree funds.

Paramount’s pending $111 billion deal for WBD would bring together Paramount assets including CBS, CBS News, Paramount Pictures and Paramount+ with WBD’s HBO and HBO Max, Warner Bros. Pictures, CNN, TNT, TBS, HGTV and more. Warner Bros shareholder approval is still pending. Discovery and regulatory approval required.

The Paramount 8-K filing with the SEC does not disclose how much each party is investing in Paramount Skydance. Variety has previously confirmed that the three Middle East funds are investing a total of almost $24 billion, with the Saudi Public Investment Fund taking a stake of around $10 billion.

According to the Paramount 8-K filing, the parties to the stock syndication include affiliates of the Ellison family (David Ellison and his father, Larry Ellison) and RedBird Capital Partners, as well as the following institutional investors: Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund; L’Imad 1st SPV 2 Exempt RSC (an investment vehicle of L’imad Holding, an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund); QIA TMT Holding (an investment vehicle of the Qatar Investment Authority); and LionTree Investment Fund.

In Tuesday’s filing, Paramount Skydance also said it believes the warrants to purchase PSKY shares issued to the syndication investors “support the long-term goal of a broader and deeper public float.”

Paramount Skydance said the PSKY shares to be issued to the stock syndication investors “will have no voting rights” and that “the Ellison family and RedBird together will continue to hold the majority equity interest in PSKY and will remain the sole owners of PSKY Class A Common Stock, representing 100% of the voting shares of PSKY.” In addition, according to the company, the agreements to offer the shares to the syndication investors “are structured to comply with all applicable U.S. regulatory requirements (including FCC requirements), and will not affect the timing or likelihood of closing under the [Warner Bros. Discovery] Merger Agreement.”

The Ellisons and RedBird are offering the private placement investment in Paramount Skydance’s Class B common stock for $16.02 per share.

Paramount and WBD expect their merger to close in the third quarter of 2026. If the Paramount acquisition is not completed by September 30, 2026, Paramount has agreed to pay WBD shareholders a “ticking fee” of 25 cents per share for each quarter (measured daily) until closing. That would add another roughly $650 million to the deal’s price tag on a quarterly basis.

Despite Paramount’s assurances that the foreign investment funds will be passive investors — without board representation — and will not rise to the point of requiring review by the FCC against foreign ownership rules or the U.S. government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) for potential national security risks, several Democratic lawmakers have called on the Trump administration to do so.

Last month, Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) are urging the Trump Administration’s Treasury Department to initiate a CFIUS national security review of Paramount Skydance’s WBD deal.

Subsequently, twelve Democratic members of the House of Representatives also urged the US Treasury Department to examine the foreign investment implications of the Paramount-WBD proposal. “This is a bad deal for consumers and for press freedom in America. It reduces competition and gives foreign-backed investors more control over major U.S. news networks,” Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-California), who led the effort among House Democrats, said in a March 12 statement.