Paramount is preparing to close its Warner Bros. Discovery merger within the next two weeks, and the David Ellison-led company has considered asking Elon Musk to join the syndicate of equity investors behind the deal, Semafor reported. The size of any Musk investment has not been disclosed.
The move would give the Ellisons another source of capital for the $110 billion merger. Musk is already close to David Ellison’s father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
Why a Musk check matters
Larry Ellison has written big checks alongside Musk before: he invested in Tesla in 2018, joined its board, and committed $1 billion to Musk’s $44 billion take-private of X, then Twitter, in 2022.
Musk enters any conversation with unmatched personal capacity. Forbes put his net worth at $949.5 billion on Wednesday; Larry Ellison ranks eighth at $191.8 billion.
Paramount declined to comment. Musk did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.
The equity stack so far
The deal’s roughly $47 billion equity financing already includes three Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds and LionTree Investment Fund. Those investors will have no board seats or governance rights.
- Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund: 15.1%
- United Arab Emirates’ L’imad Holding Company: 12.8%
- Qatar Investment Authority: 10.6%
- Passive limited partner investors in RedBird Capital Partners funds: 5.8%
- Foreign entities holding Class B stock: 5.2%
Overall, foreign investors will own 49.5% of Paramount’s non-voting equity, with 38.5% controlled by the sovereign wealth funds. The FCC has given advance approval for those investors to hold up to 20% each of indirect equity in Paramount in the future.
What this tells deal watchers
Paramount’s financing is structured to bring in capital without handing over control. The Ellison family and RedBird backstop the equity financing, and Larry Ellison has made an irrevocable personal guarantee. Bank of America, Citigroup and Apollo have committed to $54 billion in debt financing.
For media planners and entertainment finance teams, the key data point is that sovereign wealth funds already hold substantial economic exposure but no governance rights. The question now is whether Musk would accept the same passive, non-controlling terms as those funds or whether his involvement would be carved out differently.
Source: TheWrap
