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Paramount Skydance Lines Up Roughly $50 Billion in Debt to Buy Warner Bros. Discovery

Regulatory approval remains the decisive hurdle for a transaction that could leave the combined company highly leveraged.

Overview

  • Paramount Skydance agreed to an all-cash roughly $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery after shareholders approved the deal earlier this year.
  • Banks and investors have committed about $49 billion to $57 billion of debt and Warner Bros. Discovery priced a $15 billion investment-grade loan on Wednesday, May 27, to replace bridge financing.
  • The Ellison family and RedBird Capital have guaranteed large equity backing and Paramount publicly pledged to pursue deleveraging to reassure rating agencies.
  • Analysts project post-close net debt of roughly $79 billion to $87 billion and leverage near 6 to 7 times EBITDA, heightening downgrade and refinancing risks for the combined company.
  • The merger has cleared key private‑sector steps including bondholder consent and loan pricing, but U.S. antitrust, FCC and European competition reviews will determine the deal’s timing and final terms.