Saudis, Qataris, and UAE Back Kushner, Zucker in Hostile Warner Bros. Bid

David Ellison has launched a $108.4-billion hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery — $18 billion more in cash than Netflix’s deal — backed by Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, with funding from Saudi, Qatari, and UAE sovereign wealth funds, Zev Shalev wrote for the FiveStack podcast.

Kushner is not a registered agent for Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. (Photo: Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Dominique A. Pineiro, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Flickr) 

This is the same Kushner who recently spent five hours with Vladimir Putin. And Jeff Zucker — remember him from CNN? — is the other party in the deal through his UAE-funded venture firm.

They are coming for CNN, for Warner Bros., for everything.

Paramount claims no national security review is required because foreign investors “forgo governance rights,” but this involves the same foreign money that gave Kushner $2 billion at the end of the last administration.

As Nick Paro said of Kushner: “He’s positioned himself with zero accountability because he’s not a diplomat. He’s just a random guy running around doing unregistered agent work for foreign nations. We call those spies.”

Kushner is not a registered agent for Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.