{"id":327329,"date":"2026-03-03T21:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T21:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/327329\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T21:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T21:51:10","slug":"paramounts-gulf-back-warner-bros-deal-sparks-soft-power-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/327329\/","title":{"rendered":"Paramount’s Gulf-Back Warner Bros. Deal Sparks Soft Power Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tParamount Skydance\u2019s $110 billion bid for Warner Bros. Discovery<\/a> is not just a Hollywood deal. Powered by $24 billion from sovereign wealth funds in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, the proposed merger is sparking debate over soft power, influence and media independence at a company that includes CNN <\/a>and HBO.<\/p>\n

\n\tSaudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund (PIF), Abu Dhabi\u2019s L\u2019imad Holding Company, and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) are jointly putting up a total of $24 billion investment into the Hollywood mega merger \u2014 a power move that coincides with efforts to build local entertainment industries across the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn an SEC filing, Paramount said the investors will not receive governance rights, including board seats or voting rights, so their involvement will not require a sign-off by the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS).<\/p>\n

\n\tThe question, however, isn\u2019t whether the Arab funds have formal voting rights \u2014 it\u2019s whether a $24 billion stake can ever truly be passive inside a company that controls CNN, HBO and one of Hollywood\u2019s most powerful IP libraries.<\/p>\n

\n\tBefore pulling out of the deal, Netflix<\/a> co-CEO\u00a0Ted Sarandos<\/a> \u2013 speaking to the BBC in London on the morning after the recent BAFTA Film Awards \u2013 called the Gulf sovereign funds backing Paramount\u2019s bid a \u201cbad idea,\u201d noting that they are from \u201ca part of the world that is not very big on the First Amendment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt seems very odd to me with the level of investment that we\u2019re talking about that they\u2019d have no influence or editorial control over media in another country,\u201d Sarandos added.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey may be sleeping partners. But there will probably come a time when they are going to wake up and want to exert their influence\u201d agreed Middle East analyst Neil Quilliam, partner at Azure Strategy in London.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBig sovereign investors negotiate the level of visibility they want into strategy and major decisions,\u201d said New York-based lawyer and analyst Irina Tsukerman. \u201cThey automatically get ongoing access to leadership and leverage tied to future financing, even without publicly acknowledged voting rights,\u201d she pointed out.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWould you spend that kind of money to just be a silent partner? \u201cI doubt it,\u201d said Dubai-based media consultant Mazen Hayek who is a former spokesman for regional broadcasting powerhouse MBC Group. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDoes it guarantee you direct influence? No, it doesn\u2019t,\u201d he added. \u201cAt least not in normal corporate America,\u201d according to Hayek.<\/p>\n

\n\tQuilliam underlined that the decision on the part of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi \u2013 which is part of the United Arab Emirates \u2013 to join forces on this Hollywood mega deal marks \u201can unusual three-way alliance,\u201d especially at a time when tensions are simmering between Saudi and the UAE who are on opposite sides of Sudan\u2019s civil war.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut these Gulf countries are casting aside their differences because \u201cThey\u2019ve got their eye on the bigger prize,\u201d Quilliam noted. That reward being that \u201call three Arab states want to occupy a major place in the global media space.\u201d So they are \u201creally stepping up to project their [soft] power beyond the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey are looking for ways to diversify from their oil-based economies,\u201d said Georgetown University political economist Robert Mogielnicki. And \u201cPushing into the entertainment realm is an important part of their broader economic diversification strategies.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tBut what\u2019s in it for them?<\/p>\n

\n\tBesides the prestige of being minority partners in the Hollywood mega merger \u201cThey get a piece of IP, a movie premiere, a movie shoot: all they care about is reputation and soft power,\u201d\u00a0says Hayek. At a more granular level, there could be synergies between Saudi-owned MBC\u2019s Shahid streaming service and HBO Max, he noted.<\/p>\n

\n\tSaudi Arabia \u2013 eight years after the removal of its religion-related ban on cinema \u2013 has major moviemaking ambitions as part of the kingdom\u2019s larger efforts to transition from an oil-based economy to becoming a\u00a0digital world player. <\/p>\n

\n\tHollywood, meanwhile, is beginning to move past the backlash caused by the grisly murder of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Turkish Embassy in 2018 which was\u00a0attributed to\u00a0Saudi agents following an investigation.\u202fThe Saudi government denies involvement of its top leadership.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSaudi money has already found its way in Hollywood through multiple splashy deals. To name one, Electronic Arts, the maker of video games like \u201cMadden NFL,\u201d \u201cBattlefield,\u201d and \u201cThe Sims,\u201d in October was\u00a0acquired\u00a0by an investor group led by Saudi Arabia\u2019s sovereign wealth fund in a massive deal valued at $55 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tQatar, after being put on the global map by Al Jazeera and the 2022 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament, is now turning to film and TV and courting Hollywood. This became crystal clear last November during the Industry Days component of the new Doha Film Festival that were attended by top executives from Sony Pictures and U.S. indie studios Neon, A24, Department M and Miramax that is jointly owned by Qatar\u2019s beIN Media Group and Paramount Global.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, Hollywood-backed theme parks have been sprouting in the region. In May, the Walt Disney Company\u00a0announced plans for its first theme park in the Middle East\u00a0in Abu Dhabi, joining the nearby Warner Bros. World resort on Abu Dhabi\u2019s Yas Island.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat said, the broader issue remains that \u201cHollywood is not used to Arab money in media,\u201d Hayek pointed out. \u201cThey are used to Arab money in strategic places: in airports and football clubs and shopping malls,\u201d he noted. But they are not comfortable with Arab countries owning even a relatively small interest in the parent company of a global news operation such as CNN.<\/p>\n

\n\tCNN in fact could become the main stumbling block for the Paramount Warner Bros. merger from a regulatory standpoint. But it\u2019s probably not an insurmountable obstacle.<\/p>\n

\n\tFran\u00e7ois\u00a0Godard, an\u00a0analyst\u00a0at Enders Analysis, has pointed out that the U.K. regulator recently blocked a deal for RedBird Capital Partners \u2014 backed by Abu Dhabi-based International Media Investments (IMI) to buy the Telegraph Media Group.<\/p>\n

\n\tHowever the EU regulator is likely to be more lenient than its British counterpart since CNN is \u201cnot a significant player in Europe\u2019s national media landscapes\u201d said Max von Thun, director of Europe at the Brussels-based Open Markets Institute. Von Thun also noted that, more in general, the EU \u201crarely blocks merger deals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for how the foreign investments would sit with the U.S. regulator, Mogielnicki said that for Arab sovereign funds in the U.S., there are now \u201cfewer hurdles, and they are easier to get over than in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe FCC, the Justice Department,\u00a0and national security review bodies will still run through the formal processes,\u201d said Tsukerman. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBut leadership in those institutions reflects the administration,\u201d she added. Especially now,\u00a0under U.S. President Donald Trump, \u201cappointees tend to follow his instincts \u2013 and sometimes explicit direction \u2013 on foreign investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd, as Tsukerman noted, since Trump \u201chas already been comfortable operating alongside Saudi-backed capital, regulators under him are unlikely to treat the same capital as automatically disqualifying in a media deal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paramount Skydance\u2019s $110 billion bid for Warner Bros. Discovery is not just a Hollywood deal. Powered by $24…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,1868,48399,282,12481],"class_list":{"0":"post-327329","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-netflix","12":"tag-ted-sarandos","13":"tag-tv","14":"tag-warner-bros-discovery"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}