Paramount’s $108 bn Bid for Warner Bros: How Trump Family Could Decide the Hostile Deal

David Ellison-led Paramount Skydance on December 8 made an all cash hostile bid for the Hollywood studio Warner Bros Discovery (WBD). The offer includes $30 per share in cash, valuing the firm at $108 billion, including debt. The bid also involves other investors like some West Asian Sovereign Wealth Funds as well as Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump.

Notably, this offer has been made after WBD announced a deal to sell the most valuable parts of its business, its studio and streaming divisions, to Netflix for $83 billion.

"WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer for their shares in the entire company,” Paramount CEO David Ellison said, reported Bloomberg.

The Ellison family backed bid also include Abu Dhabi’s L’imad Holding Company, Affinity Partners, Saudi PIF, and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). Meanwhile, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Apollo Global Management are providing the debt commitment.

For context, Paramount Skydance refers to the merged entity that was formed after Ellison bought Paramount, the long-standing media conglomerate that owns CBS, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, and MTV and incorporated it with his production company Skydance Media in an $8 billion deal.

David Ellison is the son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and had financed the Paramount transaction with the latter's support.

Ellison also launched the bid for WBD in a race to build up his firm's portfolio. However, WBD had rejected Paramount's initial offer of $20 per share, asking bidders, including NBC owner Comcast, to make a fresh round of proposals by December 1.

Following Netflix's victory in the purchase race last week, US President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that he would be engaged in determining whether the government authorised the takeover and warned of possible competition issues.

Point to note: The deal acquiring WBD would have to go through US federal agencies like Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) for approval.

This coincides with his son-in-law, Kushner's private equity fund Affinity Partners, being involved in Paramount's latest bid, Axios and Bloomberg reported.

Kushner has facilitated many billion-dollar agreements for Middle Eastern businesses since leaving his position in the US government. According to a previous Fortune report, Jared Kushner gained recognition in September for his involvement in the $55 billion take-private deal for gaming major Electronic Arts. This is also Kushner's second collaboration with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), Bloomberg further said.

Speculation of Paramount having an upper-hand in government's scrutiny of the deal is yet to be decoded as the tender offer promises that each participant has “agreed to forgo any governance rights, including board representation associated with their non-voting equity investments”.

Additionally, Trump had dismissed concerns over his connection with Larry Ellison, saying neither Paramount nor Netflix were “great friends” of his.