As Paramount prepares to close its Warner Bros. Discovery merger in the next two weeks, the David Ellison-led media giant has considered asking Elon Musk to join its syndicate of equity investors, according to Semafor.
The discussions come as the Ellisons are looking for fresh sources of cash to help finance the $110 billion deal. Musk, who is close with David’s father and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, is one of a number of wealthy individuals under consideration, per the outlet. Semafor said the amount of Musk’s potential investment in Paramount could not be learned.
The elder Ellison previously invested in Tesla in 2018 and served on the company’s board of directors. He also committed $1 billion in Musk’s $44 billion acquisition to take X, formerly Twitter, private in 2022.
Musk is the world’s richest man with a net worth of $949.5 billion as of Wednesday, per real-time tracking by Forbes, while Larry Ellison ranks eighth with a net worth of $191.8 billion.
Representatives for Paramount declined to comment. Musk did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.
The discussions about adding Musk come as the Paramount-WBD merger’s $47 billion of equity financing includes contributions from three Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds and LionTree Investment Fund, who will have no board seats or governance rights.
Foreign investors will own 49.5% of the non-voting equity in Paramount, with 38.5% of that total controlled by the sovereign wealth funds. The FCC also gave advance approval for those investors to hold up to 20% each of the indirect equity in Paramount in the future.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will hold an equity stake of 15.1%, the United Arab Emirates’ L’imad Holding Company will hold a stake of 12.8% and the Qatar Investment Authority will hold a stake of 10.6%. Other foreign equity owners include “passive limited partner investors” in funds managed by RedBird Capital Partners, which account for 5.8%, and foreign-based entities that have acquired the company’s Class B stock, who control 5.2%.
The equity financing is backstopped by the Ellison family and RedBird, with Larry Ellison previously making an “irrevocable personal guarantee.” Meanwhile, Bank of America, Citigroup and Apollo have committed to the deal’s $54 billion in debt financing.
