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Paramount Skydance (NASDAQ: PSKY) has locked in approximately $24 billion in equity commitments from three major Gulf sovereign wealth funds to back its ambitious $81 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD), according to a Wall Street Journal report citing insiders familiar with the deal.
Leading the funding contributions is Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, committing around $10 billion to the media megadeal. Joining them are the Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi-based L'imad Holding Co., rounding out a powerful trio of Middle Eastern institutional investors backing one of the largest media transactions in recent history.
The capital injection is designed to ease the financial burden on Paramount, helmed by CEO David Ellison, and its strategic partner RedBird Capital, as both firms push forward with a deal first announced in February. While Paramount had previously acknowledged receiving significant aggregate commitments, the WSJ report marks the first time the individual investors have been publicly identified.
The proposed acquisition gives Paramount access to a media portfolio that includes marquee assets like HBO and CNN. Currently undergoing regulatory scrutiny across Europe, the transaction could officially close as early as July, pending approval from relevant authorities.
A key structural detail of the deal is that all three Gulf investors will hold minority, non-voting stakes in the combined entity. This arrangement is deliberately designed to prevent triggering U.S. national security protocols or Federal Communications Commission oversight, which could otherwise delay or derail the transaction.
The deal signals growing appetite among Gulf sovereign wealth funds to diversify portfolios through high-profile Western media investments. If completed on schedule, the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger would fundamentally reshape the global streaming and entertainment landscape, consolidating major content brands under a single media powerhouse.
