Gomez sounded the alarm about Paramount’s Gulf funding earlier this year, warning of potential influence from “foreign governments with documented records of press suppression.” She pointed in particular Saudi’s Public Investment Fund controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who U.S. intelligence previously found ordered the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
On Thursday, Gomez noted she had called for a full Commission vote — but that the FCC had instead “snuck this ruling out as a staff-level decision” with “no accountability for a call of this magnitude.” She indicated she would share more soon.
A handful of lawmakers have also scrutinized the sovereign funds’ involvement in recent months, including Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Maria Cantwell — among those who wrote a May letter to FCC chairman Brendan Carr to raise “serious concerns” as well.
Carr, who was appointed by Republican President Donald Trump, had been broadly supportive of the Paramount-Warner tie-up since it was announced. In March, he told CNBC that the FCC’s regulatory role, if any, would be minimal — but that he thought it was a “good deal” that should get through “pretty quickly.”
Even if the company hadn’t received the FCC’s sign off for the Gulf funds’ equity stakes, the Warner merger wouldn’t necessarily be knocked of the table (the Ellisons and RedBird might just be on the hook for more money). But the funding still secures a sizeable cash infusion for the deal — which, including billions of dollars in debt, is currently valued at nearly $111 billion based on outstanding shares.