Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners is backing out of Paramount’s all-cash, $30 per share bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, according to Bloomberg.
Paramount previously confirmed the investment firm was a participant in its bid in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. However, it was not disclosed how much the firm would be providing in financing.
“With two strong competitors vying to secure the future of this unique American asset, Affinity has decided no longer to pursue the opportunity. We continue to believe there is a strong strategic rationale for Paramount’s offer,” Affinity told the outlet in a statement.
Kushner’s participation posed a potential conflict of interest, as his father-in-law, President Donald Trump, has suggested he would be directly involved in the decision-making on a potential deal.
Representatives for Paramount and Affinity Partners did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.
Per the SEC filing, Paramount’s bid has a total of $40.7 billion in equity financing, which includes $11.8 billion from the Ellison family and $24 billion from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi’s L’imad Holding Company.
The Ellisons and Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital Partners have agreed to fully backstop 100% of the equity financing through the Ellison family trust, which contains over $250 billion of assets including 1.16 billion Oracle shares.
The bid also includes $54 billion in committed debt financing from Bank of America, Citibank and Apollo Global Management. Roughly $17 billion has been reserved to allow WBD to extend an existing bridge loan.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s board has repeatedly expressed concerns about the deal’s financing as well as the potential regulatory risk posed by the Middle East funds’ involvement.
In a letter, Democratic Reps. Sam Liccaro and Ayanna Pressley urged WBD to file a notice with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to conduct a national security review if it opts to reach a deal with Paramount. A mandatory CFIUS would be triggered if a foreign entity obtains a 25% or more voting interest in a U.S. company and a foreign government holds a 49% or greater voting interest in that foreign investor.
The Ellisons have previously said the Middle East funds and Affinity Partners agreed to forgo all governance rights, including board representation, and that they wouldn’t have an ownership stake large enough to trigger a mandatory CFIUS review.
Paramount brought its $108.4 billion offer directly to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders after David Ellison accused the media giant of conducting a “murky” sale process that ended in an $82.7 billion deal with Netflix for Warner’s studio and streaming assets.
Ellison has argued that the board ignored the $30 per share bid for the entire company – and the company’s statements that it was not “best and final” offer.
Warner Bros. Discovery has said it would “carefully review and consider” the latest bid and would provide a response by Dec. 22. A WBD spokesperson told TheWrap that the board and company have run a “fair and transparent” process with each of the bidders for months, including “extensive opportunities for due diligence and negotiations.”
“The Board’s review will be done with the very same care and focus on its duties to our shareholders by which it reviewed all bids, including the six proposals previously submitted by Paramount Skydance,” the spokesperson added.
Despite his previous praise for the Ellisons and Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, Trump hasn’t formally endorsed Paramount or Netflix in the battle for Warner Bros. Discovery, telling reporters at the White House that “neither are particularly great friends of mine.” When asked directly about Kushner’s involvement, Trump said he’d “never spoken with him about it” and “didn’t know enough.”
“I know the companies very well. I know what they’re doing, but I have to see. I have to see what percentage of the market they have,” Trump added. “I just want to do what’s right. It’s so very important to do what’s right.”
Despite the Ellisons touting a good relationship with the White House, Trump has expressed frustration with CBS’ new owners for airing an interview with Marjorie Taylor Greene. He’s also called for CNN to be sold to new ownership in any deal with WBD.
“For those people that think I am close with the new owners of CBS, please understand that ’60 Minutes’ has treated me far worse since the so-called ‘takeover’ than they have ever treated me before,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Tuesday seeking to further distance himself. “If they are friends, I’d hate to see my enemies!”
In addition to Paramount’s bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, Affinity Partners is part of a consortium of investors that are planning to take Electronic Arts private in a $55 billion deal. That deal, which would be the largest leveraged buyout in history, is expected to close in first quarter of fiscal 2027.
