FCC Clears Sovereign-Fund Stakes That Take Paramount's Foreign Ownership to 49.5%
The Federal Communications Commission approved Paramount Skydance's plan to sell large equity stakes to the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, Ars Technica reports. Under US law, companies holding broadcast licenses need FCC approval for direct or indirect foreign ownership above 25 percent of their stock. Paramount says its indirect foreign ownership will reach 49.5 percent once the sovereign fund investments land, and it petitioned the FCC to waive the limit. The stakes matter because of what Paramount owns: the company holds licenses for the 28 local CBS stations it owns and operates. The approval does not settle the larger deal it is attached to. Paramount is buying Warner Bros. Discovery in a $111 billion transaction that is partially financed with foreign investment, and the acquisition has not closed because US states filed a lawsuit aiming to block the merger. The Department of Justice approved that merger.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
Two separate gates are visible here: the FCC signed off on the foreign ownership stakes, while the merger itself sits contested in court and separately approved by the Justice Department.
Separate on paper, but the financing is the link. The deal is partly financed by foreign investment, so clearing the ownership question looks like progress toward closing a merger that states are still trying to stop.