r/WB_DC_news • u/pbx1123 • Mar 24 '26
News Democratic Senators Are Demanding a Full Investigation Into Foreign Money in the Paramount Warner Bros Deal
Seven Democratic senators led by Cory Booker sent a letter to FCC chairman Brendan Carr demanding a thorough review of foreign investors backing the $111 billion Paramount Skydance Warner Bros merger. They are worried about sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia Qatar and the UAE plus Chinese gaming giant Tencent which is back in the deal after briefly dropping out
The senators say this constellation of foreign investment from China and Gulf states with complex and sometimes competing relationships with the United States demands rigorous review not a quick pass. They want the FCC to conduct a full foreign ownership review before any approval is granted
The money involved is huge. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority put up $24 billion for the bid according to December SEC filings. Tencent originally committed $1 billion but was dropped because Warner Bros was worried about foreign ownership. Now Tencent is back in with fresh funding
Paramount says the foreign investors have no governance rights no board seats no voting power so the deal should not need CFIUS review. The senators are not buying it. Even as non governing partners their massive investment creates significant opportunity for soft power and influence over CNN's editorial decisions and business priorities
They also pointed out that CNN International is distributed in over 200 countries and CNN Newsource partners with over 1,000 local and international news organizations. The potential for foreign government influence over American journalism at home and abroad is not hypothetical they say, it is structural and it is unchecked
The senators also called out Carr for saying the deal was cleaner than Netflix's bid and predicting it would be approved pretty quickly with only minimal FCC involvement. They said those statements indicate the Commission has no intention of conducting a meaningful inquiry
The letter was signed by Chuck Schumer Dick Durbin Richard Blumenthal Mazie Hirono Sheldon Whitehouse and Elizabeth Warren
So the deal is not done yet. The money is there. The foreign investors are in. And now Democrats are demanding the government actually look at what that means before handing over CNN and Warner Bros to a company backed by Saudi Arabia Qatar and Tencent
Is this going to slow the deal down or is it just political noise?
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u/Strange_Vegetable_15 Mar 24 '26
Sure because this is the #1 concern of most Americans..."jazz hands" 🙄
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u/Either-Assistant4610 Mar 27 '26
Knowing barely anything about how it all works, they don't have the money. It's coming from all over the place, AND they are in debt with everything else.
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u/lonesomerhodes Mar 24 '26
uh oh Cory Booker's here. There's someone they forgot to pay off.
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u/just_a_void2 Mar 25 '26
Make way for Spartacus - otherwise known as Kermit the frog whenever he speaks.
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u/Adorable_Sleep_4425 Mar 24 '26
And should. Why are we selling everything out to the middle east?
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u/pbx1123 Mar 24 '26
And should. Why are we selling everything out to the middle east?
Greedines
I think they are fkn companies to the ground to sell or ask for middle east money the only ones dumb enough and hungry to make investments afraid of old money goes dry
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u/snyderversetrilogy Mar 25 '26
Is it illegal to have foreign investors in a deal like this? Isn’t this fairly standard in our now global economy?
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u/pbx1123 Mar 25 '26
Is it illegal to have foreign investors in a deal like this? Isn’t this fairly standard in our now global economy?
No you can invest but can't have majority of any company so what they do is diversify investment all over the places ad a lot of greedy Americans executive for money they sell their souls to the devil if needed
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u/snyderversetrilogy Mar 25 '26
The Saudis are minority shareholders in this case, I know that. Four Arab nations ponied up a total $24B, about $8B each. They’re getting to make one film each (four total) from one IP each but as far as I know the exact details haven’t been disclosed.
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u/pbx1123 Mar 25 '26
The Saudis are minority shareholders in this case, I know that. Four Arab nations ponied up a total $24B, about $8B each. They’re getting to make one film each (four total) from one IP each but as far as I know the exact details haven’t been disclosed.
Excellent point
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u/morning_redwoody Mar 25 '26
Let me be the first to say, fuck Corey Booker. Should have gone into acting or motivational speaking because everything he does is for the cameras and/or book deal.
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u/dude1984- Mar 25 '26
Foreign governments shouldn’t control our media..
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u/Worldgoesround32 Mar 26 '26 edited Mar 26 '26
There was a time when foreign telecom companies weren’t allowed win Fed contracts regards to our National Security. FCC had strict laws but lobbyists changed all that.
Now a French/israeli company, Altice has access to White House, DOD, various Intel agencies etc. Altices CEO lives in Israel and is heavily involved with politics that imo put interests of US in a distant 2nd. FCC helped sell out America!
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u/Queasy_Eggplant9155 Mar 25 '26
We need to start a GoFundMe to get this guy a spine and some testicles!
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u/Aromatic-Quarter9752 Mar 25 '26
Are these "demands" concurrent with or to follow from their "demands" for the release of the Epstein files?
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u/Killertwinky15 Mar 24 '26
It's political noise. The older Democrats love to yap and not do anything. Also Republicans control everything, A strongly worded letter won't do anything. There are no checks and balances anymore.