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Tech billionaire pledges $40bn 'bond' to back Paramount bid for Warner Bros
The Guardian
|December 23, 2025
The tech billionaire Larry Ellison has agreed to provide a personal guarantee of more than $40bn (£30bn) for Paramount Skydance’s fight to gain control of Warner Bros Discovery amid an extraordinary corporate battle over the entertainment giant.
WBD urged shareholders to reject a $108.4bn hostile takeover bid from Paramount - which is controlled by the Ellisons - last week, having agreed to sell its studios, HBO cable network and streaming service to Netflix in an $82.7bn deal earlier this month.
WBD also accused Paramount of having “consistently misled” investors by claiming its offer had a “full backstop” - a safety net to ensure sufficient funds - from the Ellisons.
This story is from the December 23, 2025 edition of The Guardian.
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