Elon Musk invests $1 billion in Ellison's Skydance, Semafor reports

Deadline reports the combined company has nearly $80 billion in debt after its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery closed earlier this month.

Semafor reported on Sept 23 that Paramount executives had discussed asking Musk to invest. Cosmic Book News, which relayed that report, said Ellison had personally guaranteed more than $40 billion behind the Warner Bros. deal.

Deadline reports that the Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery merger, valued at $110 billion, closed earlier this month and created Skydance. Deadline says the company has nearly $80 billion in debt and leverage of 6.5 times trailing earnings. It also reports that the leverage has alarmed investors and led to credit rating downgrades.

On Wednesday, Oct 21, John Malone said at the Paley Center International Council Summit that he expects a Musk and Ellison deal, possibly worth $8 billion to $10 billion. Storyboard18, citing Deadline, reports that Malone's figure concerned SpaceX as the investor rather than Musk personally, along with a possible Starlink distribution deal for Skydance content. Malone also linked a possible deal to Ellison's role in helping finance Musk's $44 billion Twitter purchase in 2022.

For anyone holding Skydance shares or warrants, the merger has already closed, so new money from Musk would go into the combined company's balance sheet and governance, not toward approval of the deal. Musk's involvement had been floated in September, when Paramount was weighing whether to ask him for capital. Since then his attention has been taken up by SpaceX financing, Starlink disputes and compensation questions at his other companies. A $1 billion commitment would therefore be fresh capital for Ellison's company, not only the use of Musk's name.