Paramount Skydance Denies That Its Warner Bros. Discovery Bid Involves Arab Sovereign Wealth Funds

UPDATED: Paramount Skydance has denied a Variety report that the company was forming an investment consortium with the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi to submit a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery,

“The information Variety published is categorically inaccurate,” a rep for Paramount Skydance said in a statement. “This is a confidential process, which we respect and, as such, will not be commenting until the process is over.”

Variety, citing anonymous sources, previously reported the Ellison family (which owns 100% voting control in Paramount Skydance) was putting together a $71 billion bid in conjunction with funds from three Arab countries: Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).

The board of Warner Bros. Discovery has set a Nov. 20 deadline for initial bids from interested acquirers, which also include Comcast and Netflix. The board of Warner Bros. Discovery had previously rejected a $23.50/share offer from David Ellison.

Meanwhile, Comcast co-CEO Brian Roberts traveled to Saudi Arabia in late October to attend a conference in Riyadh hosted by the PIF, Variety has confirmed. He also visited Qiddiya, where the country is building a theme park destination, to scope out the area for a possible Universal park in the area. But it’s not known whether Roberts solicited investment backing from the Saudis for a Warner Bros. bid by Comcast.

Reps for Warner Bros. Discovery and Comcast declined to comment.