Paramount Teams With Saudis For WBD Bid: Update: Skydance Denies Arab Sovereign Wealth Funds Claim

Paramount has reportedly joined forces with Saudi Arabia and two other Middle Eastern funds to increase its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery to $71 billion, topping the earlier Comcast-Saudi offer by $1 billion.

This comes after months of back-and-forth where WBD leadership — including David Zaslav — rejected multiple Paramount offers, including a previous $60 billion pitch.

Update: Paramount denies Variety‘s report that  the company was forming an investment consortium with the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi to submit a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery:

“The information Variety published is categorically inaccurate,” a rep for Paramount Skydance said in a statement. “This is a confidential process, which we respect and, as such, will not be commenting until the process is over.”

Update #2: Our insiders responded, noting that Paramount didn’t specifically deny Saudi involvement. They also added: “Just remember — I still wouldn’t count out Comcast-Universal because they spun out MS Now from MSNBC to be an independent entity in anticipation of the bid, to get the left-leaning channel out of Comcast because Trump hated it, and NBC is now centrist, more center-right.”

Paramount Skydance Raises The Bid To $71 Billion

Variety reports David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance has aligned with sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, forming a new investment group to push a massive all-cash bid for WBD.

Each fund would contribute $7 billion, totaling $21 billion, while Paramount Skydance would front $50 billion. Combined, the offer hits the $71 billion mark.

The move follows the WBD board rejecting an earlier $23.50/share offer from Ellison. WBD has set November 20 as the deadline for initial bids, with Paramount, Comcast, and Netflix all expected to submit.

Middle East Deals Add Pressure To Comcast

The Saudis’ involvement comes as the media landscape shifts around political and strategic interests. The report notes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with President Trump at the White House on Tuesday, while Comcast co-CEO Brian Roberts recently traveled to Riyadh for a PIF-hosted conference and visited Qiddiya to scout a potential Universal theme park.

However, according to Variety’s source, Saudi Arabia has “no incentive” to join a Comcast bid because the Trump administration allegedly dislikes Roberts, largely due to MSNBC/MS NOW’s political coverage.

The Saudis do not have “any incentive” to join a prospective Comcast bid for Warner Bros. (excluding WBD’s linear TV networks) because their understanding is that “the Trump administration doesn’t like Comcast CEO Brian Roberts at all,” the source said.

Paramount’s bid, meanwhile, gives each of the three Middle Eastern funds access to an IP, a movie premiere, and a film shoot, which the source described as a reputation and soft-power play.

Ellison Makes His Move As Deadline Approaches

The Ellison-led consortium is now positioned as the highest reported bidder so far.

With the Nov. 20 deadline looming, all eyes are on WBD’s board, which must choose between three drastically different futures: a Paramount-Saudi alliance, a potential Comcast-backed purchase, or a Netflix-driven takeover.