Paramount/Skydance Preps $71 Billion Bid to Acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, Backed by Saudi and Qatari Money

UPDATE: Paramount/Skydance is denying the report, but Variety is standing by its sources. It’s anyone’s guess who is lying.

EARLIER: After a rejected takeover offer, David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance has decided to bring in new Middle Eastern partners to support its full bid for Warner Bros. Discovery.

What better way to up the ante than to partner with the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi? That’s Ellison’s current plan, according to Variety. Each Arab country would contribute $7 billion (for a total of $21 billion), while Paramount Skydance would front $50 billion for the WBD acquisition, making a total offer of $71 billion.

If you were Warner CEO David Zaslav, what would you do? Accept Paramount’s staggering $71 billion deal, or go with Comcast/Universal’s slightly lower bid, also backed by some Arab money, and merge Warner with Universal? Universal’s Donna Langley might be the best executive in the movie business, and she could bring her signature touch to Warner if it came under Universal’s control.

I’d much rather Netflix stay out of this. I know its CEO, Ted Sarandos, is highly interested in bidding — but a Netflix acquisition would likely mean certain movies no longer receive theatrical releases. That’s the worst case scenario for the movie industry. At least Universal and Paramount are committed to theaters.

In the meantime, Warner Bros. Discovery has already rejected three Paramount bids for the entire company, with a fourth — that $71 billion juggernaut — in the works. Paramount remains intent on acquiring all of WBD, while Netflix’s interest appears focused solely on the studio and streaming arm.

With the field of serious bidders shrinking, the race may realistically come down to Paramount, Universal, and Netflix.

Let’s just say Ellison’s Skydance acquires Warner Bros. Discovery, the effects on the movie and media landscape would be enormous. Imagine Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., HBO, and CNN all under one roof. On the film side, it could reshape franchise strategy, and major IPs like Harry Potter, and maybe even James Gunn’s DCU could see significant changes.