"Here's a very 2025 headline, courtesy of Variety: "Paramount Bid for WB Discovery Backed by Saudis, Qatar and Abu Dhabi." But a few hours after that one was published on Tuesday, it got a rewrite: " Paramount Skydance Denies That Its Warner Bros. Discovery Bid Involves Arab Sovereign Wealth Funds." Variety's earlier story, Variety explained, had been swatted down by Paramount PR, which called it "categorically inaccurate.""
"On the same day Variety ran its stories, the Financial Times reported that David Ellison had recently met with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund "and other officials from the region after they independently expressed an interest in participating in the bid." That evening, The New York Times also suggested that "the Saudi sovereign wealth fund could be part of [the Ellisons'] deal.""
Larry and David Ellison seek to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery and face the challenge of financing a roughly $71 billion bid. Reports indicate interest from Gulf sovereign wealth funds, including Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, to participate in or back the bid. Variety ran and then revised a headline linking Arab sovereign wealth funds, with Paramount PR calling an earlier version "categorically inaccurate." The Financial Times reported meetings between David Ellison and Saudi officials, and The New York Times suggested the Saudi fund could be part of the deal. Paramount declined to comment and the Saudi fund did not respond to requests.
Read at Business Insider
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