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Ellison Irrevocable Trust Issues

Despite their numerous bids for all of WBD, a rift has opened between the principals at Paramount Skydance and the board and advisors of their target company—at least for now. Can money heal all wounds?

larry ellison david ellison
But despite the Ellisons’ revisions and repeated promises, the WBD board still had serious questions about their commitment to underwriting the equity for the deal. Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
William D. Cohan
December 14, 2025

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On November 18, nearly a month after Warner Bros. Discovery had put itself up for sale and two days before the first round of bids was due, Variety reported an interesting new twist. According to the trade, the Ellisons were bringing in the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, the Qatar Investment Authority, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority—with each contributing $7 billion in equity to the Ellisons deal. That same day, notably, Paramount Skydance denied the Variety report in the strongest possible terms. “The information Variety published is categorically inaccurate,” the company said in a statement.