The FCC has approved substantial equity investments from three Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds in support of Paramount’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. This decision alleviates potential regulatory challenges to the merger.
The commission, led by Brendan Carr, greenlit Paramount’s request to allow over 25% of the studio’s ownership to be foreign-held. The funding, approximately $24 billion, comes from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, resulting in foreign investors owning 49.5% of the future combined entity.
Paramount emphasized that once the acquisition is finalized, the Ellison family and RedBird will collectively hold the majority equity stake and all voting shares, ensuring that foreign investors won’t have governance rights.
Despite concerns raised by Democratic lawmakers regarding potential influence on the editorial direction of CBS News and CNN, the FCC determined that the foreign investors will not have the capacity to control decisions at either of the companies involved.
The FCC’s ruling highlights a commitment to promoting foreign investment in the media industry while implementing conditions to prevent control issues, including barring access to nonpublic U.S. data and imposing penalties for any breaches.
