Jared Kushner’s financing role in Paramount’s $108 billion US bid for Warner Bros. Discovery injects Trump-family interests into one of the biggest media battles in years, raising concerns over whether the president’s influence could tip the scales.
Paramount Skydance on Monday launched a hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery in a last-ditch effort to outbid Netflix, which had announced a merger late last week, and create a media powerhouse.
Paramount said its offer includes financing from Kushner’s investment firm Affinity Partners, along with financing from the Saudi and Qatari sovereign wealth funds and L’imad Holding Co, owned by Abu Dhabi.
U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that he has not spoken with Kushner —who is married to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka — about Warner Bros. Discovery, adding that neither Netflix nor Paramount “are friends of mine.”
He looks angry he was summoned from Geppetto’s workshop half way through his reverse transition into a wooden boy to sign this unethical business deal.