Paramount Skydance recently brokered one of the biggest deals in Hollywood with Warner Bros Discovery worth $110 billion – Here's how Saudi Arabia was a part of it.
Saudi Arabia’s growing influence in American media and entertainment has continued largely uninterrupted. According to a report by The Hollywood Reporter (THR), the Kingdom, which did not even have public cinemas until 2018, has rapidly emerged as a major player in Hollywood. In 2025 alone, Saudi Arabia reportedly invested over $20 billion in the landmark Warner Bros. and Paramount Skydance deal, marking one of the biggest transactions in the entertainment industry.
The report suggests that this aggressive push into Western entertainment is part of a broader soft power strategy. Over the past eight years, Saudi investors have significantly expanded their footprint. Nine major Saudi-backed entities now hold substantial stakes in global sports and entertainment giants, including WWE and Live Nation. Additionally, through its public investment funds and sovereign wealth funds, Saudi Arabia has acquired a $200 million minority stake in prominent entertainment news outlets, including Variety, Deadline, and the parent company of The Hollywood Reporter.
David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance, one of Hollywood’s premier production houses, is set to finalise its billion-dollar deal to acquire Warner Bros Discovery later this year. The $110 billion deal, pushing Netflix out of the bidding, will have the final shareholder vote on April 23, aiming to close in Q3 2026, as per an official statement from Paramount Skydance.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) played a significant role by contributing around $12 billion. Abu Dhabi’s L’imad Holding Co and the Qatar Investment Authority each invested approximately $6 billion, bringing the total amount to $24 billion, also reported by The New York Times. From the $110 billion, Ellison’s family, the son of Oracle’s David Ellison, will back nearly $45.7 billion, as per the NYT.
This deal, however, has been opposed by over 1000 Hollywood members, who are not on board with the high-stakes merger. Their concerns include the limitation of US production houses, creative liberty, and a potential monopoly in the market. Actors like Kristen Stewart, Jane Fonda, Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo, and Bryan Cranston have lent their support against the merger.
The investment from Saudi Arabia, however, is passive in nature. It would give them no governance or decision-making rights. However, it strengthens Riyadh’s long-standing ties with Hollywood and grants it indirect access to Warner Bros.’ massive billion-dollar content library, which includes iconic franchises like Batman, Superman, Harry Potter, The Game of Thrones, and the news network CNN.
by coinfanking
13 Comments
That Saudi money is getting into everything it seems
Blood money and corruption taking over every aspect of our lives yayyyyy
Maybe we all died during COVID and this is just the hellscape that we’re existing in now.
Hollywood members are opposed,so only american billionaire assholes can spend their hard earned money and underpay staff
Good thing these people do not possess a single creative bone. Everything they produce will look and sound the same. Each production will be jam packed with banality.
Billions being poured into the most generic shit will just equate to a new version of Lifetime/Hallmark.
Its genuinely depressing watching the entire entertainment industry consolidate into like three mega-corporations backed by sovereign wealth funds ngl. say goodbye to mid-budget movies and creative freedom because it’s officially dead dude.
Great article about this insidious takeover attempt of our entertainment industry from an “ally” of America.
I hate Iran. Despise them for what they do. But I really hope this current conflict drains the Gulf oil funds so dry, that they have to pull out of the WBD deal. Without Saudi and Qatari cash, David Ellison’s plans are pretty much toast.
Does that make me a bad person? Maybe. But I do not want some asshole in Riyadh deciding what Batman or Sonic scripts can be produced. Or what state-approved propaganda robs original ideas or critical dissenters of their funding. That’s not what Hollywood should be. Yet that’s what David Ellison wants to do.
Call your Congressman. Call your state’s attorney general. Call the goddamn DOJ yourself if you have to. Kill this fucking deal, and make sure the Wahabbists aren’t bankrolling the next *Matrix.*
First it was the jews running Hollywood, now its gonna be the arabs 🤣
I mean there’s a pretty simple solution for all this. People can just refuse to watch Paramount and Warner Bros movies and shows. All those actors who wrote and signed those letters could say they’re not working on Paramount and Warner Bros movies and shows. You still have Netflix, Apple, Amazon etc. It’s not like Paramount and Warner Bros are the only game in town.
The Ellisons paid waaay too much money for Warner Bros to the point that it likely will never be profitable. If the public and actors boycotted their shows then at some point in the near future they’d be forced to sell. It’s honestly that simple.
So Hollywood will be run by KSA, ultra Zionists, and execs sucking up to MAGA?
“The investment in Saudi Arabia, however, is passive in nature.”
Lol. Lmao. Sure. As if you didn’t have all those shitty comedians signing contracts that they could make any jokes they wanted except about Saudi Arabia itself, and that’s just one of a long list of examples of Saudi Arabia censoring the people/companies they buy.
I hope that these creatives who signed that letter put their money where their mouth is and refuse to work for Paramount WB.
Ruining Batman won’t make me like them more.
I can’t wait to one day watch a movie about 9/11 backed by Saudi money.