According to a filing, the Ellison family (PSKY) and RedBird committed to backstop 100% of the USD 40.7bn equity capital required for the deal.
The structure with Ellison family eliminates any potential CFIUS (foreign investment) review risk for the proposed WBD transaction.
If the proposed deal is terminated under certain circumstances, Paramount (PSKY) would pay WBD a USD 5bn termination fee.
If the deal is terminated under other circumstances, WBD would pay a termination fee of approximately USD 2.9bn.
Tencent (0700 HK) will no longer participate as a financing partner in the transaction.
New debt financing agreements were entered into with Bank of America (BAC), Citi (C), and Apollo (APO) for up to USD 54bn in principal.
Jared Kushner is said to be involved in helping finance the bid for Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD), according to Axios citing a regulatory filing.
This follows Paramount Skydance’s (PSKY) all-cash tender offer to acquire WBD for USD 30/shr, valuing the transaction at USD 108.4bn.
Pres. Donald Trump has expressed significant reservations about the proposed Netflix–Warner Bros. Discovery deal, saying it “could be a problem” due to the size and market share the combined company would command. While he praised Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos as a “fantastic man” and called Netflix a great company, Trump emphasized that the scale of the merger raises real antitrust concerns. He also stated that he intends to be personally involved in the regulatory vetting process, signaling that the deal will face unusually high executive-level scrutiny. Despite his positive comments about the companies themselves, Trump made clear that there is no guarantee the transaction will move forward, underscoring uncertainty around whether such a large consolidation could win approval under his administration. The news that his son-in-law Jared Kushner is involved on the Paramount Skydance deal, of course raises an eyebrow.
