Photo by BoliviaInteligente on Unsplash
Paramount executives have discussed seeking an equity investment from Elon Musk as they prepare to close their acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, a media industry news report citing a Semafor exclusive said. The talks come as Paramount Skydance moves toward finalizing one of the largest media mergers in recent memory, a deal valued at $31 a share in cash, or about $81 billion in equity and $110 billion including debt, a financial news report said.
Building an Investor Syndicate
Musk is not the sole prospective investor under consideration. He is one of several wealthy individuals that Paramount CEO David Ellison has weighed tapping for an investor syndicate, a media industry news report citing a Semafor exclusive said. The size of any potential Musk investment could not be determined, a media industry news report citing a Semafor exclusive said.
Larry Ellison, David Ellison’s father and the founder of Oracle, has personally committed to backstop more than $40 billion in equity financing for the transaction, a media industry news report citing a Semafor exclusive said. That backstop has been central to making the deal possible in the first place. A trio of Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds led by Saudi Arabia has also agreed to come on as investors and will wind up holding a combined equity stake in the merged company of just under 50%, a media industry news report citing a Semafor exclusive said.
According to SEC filings, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority are together providing around $24 billion for Paramount’s bid, a financial news report citing SEC filings said. Their involvement underscores how heavily the merger depends on outside capital beyond Paramount’s own balance sheet, and adding Musk to the mix would bring yet another high-profile name into an already unusual ownership structure.
A Long Friendship Between Ellison and Musk
The possibility of Musk joining the syndicate is rooted in a long personal relationship. Musk and Larry Ellison have long been close, and it was in part the elder Ellison’s money that made Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. possible, a media industry news report citing a Semafor exclusive said. Their financial ties date back years. Larry Ellison invested $1 billion in Musk’s 2022 deal to take X, formerly Twitter, private, a media industry news report citing a Semafor exclusive said. He also invested in Tesla in 2018 and served on the company’s board of directors for years, a media industry news report citing a Semafor exclusive said.
That history suggests Musk’s potential involvement in Paramount’s Warner Bros. Discovery bid would not be his first foray into an Ellison-backed venture, but rather an extension of a partnership that has already spanned two major companies. Whether Musk ultimately signs on remains unclear. Paramount declined to comment on the report, and Musk did not respond to a request for comment, a news report citing the original Semafor story said.
Legal Hurdles Cleared
The investor discussions come just days after the merger cleared a major legal obstacle. The Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger cleared a major hurdle on September 21, when Paramount settled lawsuits brought by 12 state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America, avoiding a scheduled March 2027 trial, a financial news report said. That settlement removed one of the last significant legal barriers standing between Paramount and a completed acquisition.
The terms of that settlement carry real consequences for how the combined company will operate. Settlement commitments include agreement to certain guardrails for CNN, financial penalties tied to Ellison’s promise to deliver 30 movies a year, and a temporary separation between the studios, an entertainment news report said. Paramount has also agreed to invest $1.5 billion in U.S. film production and in protecting and creating jobs as part of the settlement, an entertainment news report said. Those commitments suggest regulators and litigants extracted concrete guarantees around jobs, content, and journalistic independence before allowing the deal to proceed unchallenged in court.
A Deal on the Verge of Closing
With the litigation resolved, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has said the deal could close within about two weeks, a financial news report citing statements from David Ellison said. That timeline would bring to a close a saga that has combined billions of dollars in sovereign wealth financing, a father-son business partnership, and now the prospect of one of the world’s richest men joining as a shareholder in a reshaped Hollywood giant.
The stakes of the transaction extend well beyond the balance sheets involved. Should the merger close as planned, Paramount would gain control of CNN, Warner Bros.’ film and television studios, and a vast library of media assets, all while operating under the guardrails and financial commitments baked into last week’s settlement. Whether Musk becomes a formal part of that ownership picture, or simply one of several names Ellison considered along the way, could shape how outside observers view the political and financial dynamics surrounding the newly combined media company for years to come.
For now, the equity syndicate remains fluid, with sovereign wealth funds locked in, the Ellison family’s backstop confirmed, and Musk’s role still an open question awaiting confirmation from either side.
