FCC Clears Gulf Funds for Nearly 50% of Paramount Equity

The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau has cleared sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to hold indirect, non-voting equity in Paramount Skydance far above the 25% ceiling that US broadcast law sets for foreign ownership. The declaratory ruling, DA 26-1001 in MB Docket No. 26-93, was adopted and released on 17 September 2026; the Associated Press reported the decision on 18 September.

The ruling grants specific approval to seven foreign entities named in Paramount's petition: Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund with 15.1% equity, four L'imad entities in the UAE at 12.8% each, QIA TMT Holding LLC at 10.6%, and the Qatar Investment Authority. Paramount told the Commission that foreign-owned interests held through Class B shares are "expected to be approximately 49.5 percent in the aggregate" after the investment, and asked for room up to 100% to absorb routine share-price fluctuations and possible future investment. The Bureau granted that aggregate clearance. AP reported that the three funds have committed a combined $24 billion.

The money is tied to Paramount's pending takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. Under the ruling's account, Lawrence Ellison and a RedBird Capital fund signed subscription agreements on 27 February 2026 to buy up to roughly $47 billion of non-voting Class B stock, then assigned part of those purchase rights to the Gulf investors. Paramount filed the petition on 24 April; it needs FCC sign-off because it owns CBS and a set of broadcast television licences.

The clearance comes with conditions. It is tied to a Letter of Agreement signed on 4 September by Paramount Skydance chief legal officer Makan Delrahim with the Justice Department's National Security Division, committing that each investor's interest "will consist entirely of non-voting stock without any governance or information rights" and that the funds will have no "influence, direction, or control over" Paramount's content decisions or management, and no access to non-public US person data.

Commenters in the docket, among them Free Press, argued the Commission should weigh "practical influence" rather than formal voting control. The Bureau called that "unconvincing," writing that the deal "is not a loan, which must be repaid, but a purchase of stock that has no voting rights," and that the investors "will not be able to wield any influence, let alone control, over decisions involving the Licensees." Anna Gomez, the FCC's sole Democratic commissioner, took the opposite view, writing on social media that the agency "just let some of the most repressive governments in the world indirectly control nearly all of a combined Paramount-Warner Bros" and that money on this scale "doesn't just buy equity, it secures influence over what gets said and made." She said she had asked for a vote of the full Commission.

The ruling removes one regulatory obstacle, not the last one: AP reports the $81 billion merger is still on hold in an antitrust case brought by twelve states and Hollywood writers.

This article is not investment advice.