Paramount Skydance is putting roughly $50 billion on the corporate credit card to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, a financing package so large it required 18 banks and financial institutions to share the risk. The all-cash acquisition, valued at approximately $110.9 billion or $31 per share, is the kind of deal that makes even seasoned Wall Street types pause and do the math twice.
The debt syndicate backing the transaction includes Citigroup, Bank of America, Apollo, and JPMorgan, among others. Collectively, they’ve committed between $49 billion and $54 billion in debt financing, with the remainder of the purchase price covered by new equity investments from the Ellison family and RedBird Capital.
Inside the biggest media deal ever assembled
The definitive agreement was reached on February 27, 2026, capping off a competitive bidding war that, at one point, included an offer from Netflix. Warner Bros. Discovery ultimately rejected the streaming giant’s bid in favor of Paramount Skydance’s superior proposal.
Debt syndication was completed in April 2026, a critical milestone that confirmed the financial market’s willingness to underwrite a transaction of this magnitude. Shareholder votes have been initiated, and WBD has entered discussions with its existing debt holders to modify current loan terms in preparation for the deal’s closure.
