Paramount Skydance confirmed Tuesday it has locked $24 billion in equity commitments from three Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds to backstop David Ellison's $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The funds—Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Qatar Investment Authority, and Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Investment Company—disclosed their participation through SEC filings after months of quiet negotiations. The transaction would create a combined entity with $45 billion in annual revenue and control over CNN, HBO, Paramount+, Max, CBS, and Warner's film library.
The structure allocates roughly $8 billion to each sovereign, with Saudi Arabia contributing the largest single tranche at approximately $8.5 billion. Paramount Skydance itself is committing $32 billion in cash and assumed debt, while the remaining $54 billion comes from a consortium including Apollo Global Management and private credit facilities arranged through JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs. The deal values Warner Bros. Discovery at a 23% premium to its Friday close, or $48.20 per share, and assumes $42 billion in existing Warner debt that will be restructured over eighteen months.
For family offices and heritage brands watching capital flows into media infrastructure, this marks the third major Gulf commitment to U.S. entertainment in fourteen months. PIF previously deployed $3.8 billion into Endeavor Group in December 2024 and Qatar Investment Authority took a $2.1 billion stake in MGM's library rights last September. The pattern reflects a deliberate shift from passive minority stakes to control-adjacent positions in distribution assets. Paramount Skydance gains not just capital but preferential licensing terms for Middle Eastern theatrical and streaming windows, worth an estimated $600-800 million annually once integrated.
The timing matters because Warner Bros. Discovery's debt matures in three tranches between June 2027 and November 2028—$14 billion, $9 billion, and $11 billion respectively. Without this refinancing, Warner would face covenant pressure that could force asset sales at unfavorable valuations. The sovereign commitments effectively subordinate those claims and give Ellison eighteen months to rationalize overlapping tech platforms, shut duplicate corporate offices, and negotiate new carriage deals with Comcast and Charter before the first maturity window. Analysts at Evercore estimate $4.2 billion in annual cost synergies by fiscal 2028, concentrated in technology infrastructure and redundant content production.
Operators should track three milestones. First, the Federal Trade Commission's Hart-Scott-Rodino review, expected to extend 120-150 days given the combined market share in streaming and news. Second, Warner's bondholder consent solicitation, which requires 66.7% approval by late May to waive change-of-control provisions. Third, the launch of the unified streaming platform—currently codenamed "Meridian"—planned for October 2027, which will determine whether subscriber churn exceeds the modeled 8-12% during migration.
The combined entity will control approximately 31% of U.S. premium streaming subscribers and 22% of domestic box office distribution when the transaction closes in fourth quarter 2026.