Overview
- The FCC media bureau granted declaratory relief on Sept. 17 that allows indirect foreign equity in the proposed Paramount–Warner Bros. combined company to exceed the statutory 25% benchmark.
- Paramount disclosed that foreign investors would hold about 49.5% of the combined company, including roughly 38.5% from Saudi, Qatari and Abu Dhabi sovereign funds, while the FCC capped individual foreign stakes and barred any foreign voting stock.
- The approval followed a Team Telecom national-security review that required enforceable commitments to block foreign access to non-public U.S. consumer data and to prevent investor influence over content or management decisions.
- Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez and other critics said the staff-level clearance lacked sufficient public accountability and called for a full Commission vote on the novel foreign-ownership decision.
- The deal cannot close while a coalition of 12 state attorneys general and the Writers Guild pursues antitrust litigation with a trial in March 2027, and Paramount has agreed to delay closing while facing ongoing ticking fees and a potential $7 billion termination payment.