Paramount’s hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery on Monday included a list of investors lined up to back the offer. Perhaps none stood out more than Affinity Partners, the private equity firm founded by President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Paramount said in the filing that Larry Ellison, the father of the company’s chief executive, David Ellison, alongside the private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners, have committed to backstop the $40 billion in cash needed for the bid. But it has lined up a number of other investors, including Mr. Kushner’s private equity firm, to offload some of that investment.
It was unclear from the filing how much Mr. Kushner’s firm had offered as an investment. Paramount declined to comment.
The inclusion of Affinity Partners adds a new political twist to the fight for Warner Bros. Discovery. The Trump administration will need to approve of any deal. The President has long been critical of CNN, one of the company’s properties. If the Ellisons are able to close an agreement with Affinity’s help, a piece of the parent company would be owned by the Trump family.
Mr. Kushner founded the private equity firm after Mr. Trump’s first term and faced scrutiny over its deep reliance on the Saudi sovereign wealth fund known as the Public Investment Fund. The firm, which has roughly $5.4 billion under management, had been known primarily for taking small stakes in companies such as the Shlomo Group, an Israeli car-leasing and financing company, and Dubizzle, a Dubai-based classifieds site.
More recently, though, it has become involved in larger and more high-profile deals. It is investing alongside the P.I.F. and Silver Lake Partners to buy Electronic Arts for roughly $55 billion.
Other financing backers for Paramount’s bid include the sovereign wealth firms for Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Paramount said in regulatory filings that these investors would forgo any governance in running Warner Bros. Discovery as well as board seats. It said in the filing that it made these concessions to ease concerns about getting the deal approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, the interagency committee that assesses whether a deal poses national security concerns.
If Paramount completes its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, Mr. Ellison and RedBird would be controlling shareholders in the new company.
Some national security experts said the transaction might still be scrutinized.
“The only ways to know for sure that your transaction is not covered by CFIUS is, one, don’t have foreign investors or, two, get a letter from CFIUS saying it’s not covered,” said Aaron Bartnick, a former CFIUS official in the Biden White House and Treasury Department.
Paramount also said it had entered into new debt financing arrangements with Bank of America, Citi and Apollo Capital Management for up to $54 billion.
Lauren Hirsch is a Times reporter who covers deals and dealmakers in Wall Street and Washington.
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