Larry Ellison Pledges $40 Billion to Bolster Warner Bros. Bid

Dec 22, 2025

Guest

Darrick Hamilton

Guest

Mike McGlone

Mike McGlone, Senior Commodity Strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, shares insights on the current trends in gold and bitcoin, predicting potential corrections ahead. Darrick Hamilton, a prominent economist, debates the effectiveness of baby bonds versus billionaire-supported 'Trump accounts' in addressing the racial wealth gap, emphasizing the need for government responsibility over private philanthropy. The discussion provides a deep dive into financial strategies and their societal impacts, shedding light on pressing economic issues.

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INSIGHT

Ellison's Personal Guarantee Shifts The Stakes

Larry Ellison personally guaranteed $40 billion to bolster Paramount Skydance's bid for Warner Bros. Discovery to strengthen the equity side of the offer.
That guarantee aims to address Warner Bros.' concerns about Paramount's financing solidity versus Netflix's investment-grade footing.

INSIGHT

Credit Quality Is A Decisive Competitive Edge

Netflix holds an investment-grade balance sheet with single-A ratings, ample market cap and growing free cash flow, giving it strong borrowing capacity.
Paramount Skydance relies on secured bridge financing and creative capital structure to achieve similar credibility for the deal.

ADVICE

Structure Debt To Win Takeover Confidence

Expect bidders to layer secured, investment-grade senior debt ahead of junior obligations to improve ratings and investor comfort.
Use secured credit tranches and equity backstops to make large leveraged bids more credible to target boards.

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Larry Ellison is throwing his personal fortune behind Paramount Skydance Corp.’s bid for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., aiming to give his son’s company an advantage in a fiercely contested takeover battle with Netflix Inc.
Both suitors moved on Monday to strengthen the financial backing for their offers, though they stopped short of increasing their bids. Netflix refinanced a portion of its planned $59 billion of debt as a way to ensure a lasting investment-grade rating — a key advantage it holds over the lower-rated Paramount.
But it’s the personal guarantee of Ellison, the world’s fifth-richest person with a $246 billion fortune, that could force a rethink by Warner Bros. The board previously urged shareholders to reject Paramount’s offer in part because the billionaire father of its Chief Executive Officer David Ellison had backed the $40.4 billion of equity financing with a revocable trust that could, as the name implies, be withdrawn or amended at any time.
Paramount has been aggressively pursuing Warner Bros. for months and Ellison was taken by surprise when the board agreed to a deal with Netflix for $82.7 billion for the streaming and studio assets. The strength of the financing for each bid has emerged as a decisive issue in the takeover battle, which unleashed two massive debt-fueled offers that rank among the largest in the past decade. Paramount took its offer of $30 a share, or $108.4 billion including debt, for the entire company directly to shareholders.
Today's show features:

Bloomberg News Media Editor Molly Schuetz and Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Credit Analyst Stephen Flynn on the latest developments in the Warner Bros. Discovery bidding war
Que Nguyen, Chief Investment Officer, Equity Strategies with Research Affiliates on whether small- and mid-cap stocks are contributing to the bull market and how much more growth we can expect from the AI trade
Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Commodity Strategist Mike McGlone on trading trends in gold and crypto
Darrick Hamilton, University Professor, the Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy at the New School, on whether Trump accounts can help close the racial wealth gap in America

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