EU investigates Paramount-WBD merger for Middle Eastern investment

June 10 (UPI) -- The European Commission is investigating the merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery because of the financial backing from three Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds.

The investigation centers around the merger deal worth $111 billion under the European Union's Foreign Subsidies Regulation. The sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi have contributed about $24 billion to the merger, Variety reported.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi's L'imad Holding Co. have joined U.S.-based RedBird and LionTree as investors, Deadline reported Paramount said in an SEC filing in April.

The EU set a July 14 deadline for vetting the deal under the law, according to a notice on the EC's site. There is also an investigation under the standard merger rules that has a July 7 deadline.

Paramount disclosed that the merged company would be 49.5% owned by foreign investors, with about 38.5% of the equity in the new company owned by those three states.

Paramount has said the Middle Eastern trio would not have board representation or voting rights in the new company. It would be fully controlled by the Ellison family and U.S.-based RedBird Capital Partners.

The merger still has to pass scrutiny in the United States, though some state attorneys general, including California's Rob Bonta, are considering filing antitrust litigation.

The Competition and Markets Authority of the United Kingdom also began a formal investigation into the merger.

Paramount said in an SEC filing that on June 9, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission approved the merger, subject to the expiration of a 14-day waiting period that expires on June 23. In its decision, the ACCC said the deal "is unlikely to have the effect of substantially lessening competition in relation to the wholesale supply of films for theatrical release in Australia."

"The materials do not support the view that Paramount and Warner Bros. are particularly close competitors or that they compete more closely with each other than with the other major film studios," the Australian regulatory commission said.

On June 5, the New Zealand Commerce Commission told Paramount Skydance that it doesn't intend to fight the merger.

Paramount said the merger has approvals from competition authorities in Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Serbia and North Macedonia, and from foreign direct investment authorities in Germany, Slovenia, Belgium, Czechia, New Zealand, Italy, France and Romania.

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This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 9:50 AM.