Trillions of sovereign capital stealth entry: Saudi Arabia and other countries use Paramount (PSKY.US) to bid for Warner Brothers (WBD.US)

The Zhitong Finance App learned that three Middle Eastern funds have promised to invest 24 billion US dollars to provide the first batch of “ammunition” for Paramount Tianmu (PSKY.US) to acquire Warner Bros. Exploration (WBD.US); but these are just book figures. Due to long-term “cross-transfusion” between them and the private equity foundation behind them, capital may still continue to flow in through the fund sandwich, and the actual total exposure is expected to be higher than US$24 billion.

Earlier this week, Saudi Arabia's Sovereign Wealth Fund (PIF) teamed up with Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi's lesser-known L'imad Holding Co. to jointly provide financial support for this hostile takeover case. These funds are regulated by wealthy Gulf countries that have long injected large amounts of capital into global acquisition companies.

Apollo Global Management (APO.US), for example, is one of the organizations involved in financing Paramount's takeover offer of up to $54 billion. Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Investment Co. (Mubadala Investment Co.) has maintained a partnership with Apollo for a long time, while the venture capital department of the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund (PIF) has also invested in funds managed by Apollo.

The Saudi sovereign wealth fund also joined forces with the Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi's Lunate (Lunate) to jointly inject billions of dollars into Affinity Partners. It is worth mentioning that Jared Kushner's company is linked to Mubadala. Previously, the two had jointly invested in a fast food company headquartered in Brazil, and an entity owned by Mubadala participated in the deal.

Their attack on Warner Bros. came just a few months before the Saudi sovereign wealth fund partnered with Affinity to make another notable offer — to buy Electronic Arts (EA.US) for 55 billion dollars. According to reports, Kushner brought the two sides together and played a central role in the negotiations.

In this deal, billionaire Larry Ellison (Larry Ellison), who is closely linked to the region, also appeared on the relevant list. Gulf investors intend to provide funding in the form of non-voting equity investments and have agreed to relinquish all governance rights. This move will help ensure that the acquisition does not require approval from the US Commission on Foreign Investment (CFIUS).

Recent initiatives in the Middle East reinforce a trend that has continued for many years — various entities in the region are increasingly becoming the strong financial support behind global transactions. According to statistics from Global SWF, a global sovereign wealth fund data platform, the five wealth funds controlled by Abu Dhabi, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia invested a total of 82 billion US dollars last year, accounting for more than 60% of the total investment of global sovereign wealth funds.

These funds support transactions in various fields, from finance to artificial intelligence, and governments hope to use this to build a new growth engine that surpasses oil. If the acquisition of Warner Bros. can be completed, it will also have another effect: expanding soft power. Once the deal is settled, Middle Eastern investors will acquire shares in well-known assets including Warner Bros. TV and film studios, HBO business, and cable TV channels such as CNN.

This attractive development prospect ultimately drove funds from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar to pool in the same deal for the first time after several years. You need to know that the sum of the three countries' total sovereign wealth is slightly over 3 trillion US dollars, and transactions involving these three countries at the same time are rare.

Diego Lopez (Diego Lopez), founder and managing director of Global SWF, said: “This means either this deal is too good to be missed, or there is a third party — such as Affinity Partners — to match the parties.”

According to information, as of December 11, 2025, the acquisition case explored by Warner Bros. is turning into a fierce bidding war: Netflix (NFLX.US) reached a preliminary agreement with the Warner Bros. board of directors on December 5 to acquire Warner Bros.'s film and television studio and streaming business HBO Max for about US$82.7 billion, and divest the cable TV channel.

However, Paramount then launched a “hostile takeover” offer on December 8, bypassing the Warner Bros. board of directors and directly proposed an all-cash purchase offer of $30 per share (total value of about US$108.4 billion) to shareholders, with the aim of acquiring all of Warner Bros.'s assets, including linear TV channels that Netflix did not want. Paramount claims that its plan will provide higher value, faster transaction certainty, and likely less antitrust resistance.

The Warner Bros. board of directors is currently reviewing Paramount's proposal, but it still maintains its recommendation for the Netflix deal. Both deals faced strict scrutiny from US antitrust regulators, and raised national security and political concerns due to investments involving foreign sovereign wealth funds such as Saudi Arabia, as well as public statements by former President Trump.