Story perspectives

Paramount Skydance Bond Sale Tops $109B Orders for Deal

By Drooid · Sep 30, 2026, 6:11 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Paramount Skydance Bond Sale

Paramount Skydance Corp launched a $30 billion high-grade bond sale to fund its $110 billion Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition.
Investors placed over $109 billion in orders, about 3.4-3.6 times the planned issuance.
The financing includes $12.4 billion of junk bonds and $7.5-$9.5 billion of loans.
The 2066 tranche was priced at roughly a 3.65-percentage-point spread over Treasuries.
Moody’s warns leverage will rise to about seven times earnings, comparable to speculative issuers.

Summary

Judge Rejects Settlement

Federal judge declined to approve the antitrust settlement on September 24, delaying the deal’s closing.
State attorneys general, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, filed the antitrust lawsuit.
A Writers Guild lawsuit settled, removing another legal obstacle to the financing plan.
Equity financing includes sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Qatar and LionTree, receiving nonvoting Class B shares.
Paramount Skydance traded at $9.97, down 3%.

History

Historical Context

The 2000 AOL-Time Warner merger, announced in January for roughly $180 billion and cleared by the FTC and FCC in December 2000 before closing on Jan 11 2001, quickly unraveled, culminating in a $99 billion loss in 2002 and the 2009 spin-off of AOL. That leverage-heavy model resurfaces today as Paramount-Skydance seeks a $30 billion bond and faces antitrust suits, echoing the earlier financing and regulatory battles.

1 of 3

Paramount Skydance Bond Sale

Paramount Skydance Corp launched a $30 billion high-grade bond sale to fund its $110 billion Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition.
Investors placed over $109 billion in orders, about 3.4-3.6 times the planned issuance.
The financing includes $12.4 billion of junk bonds and $7.5-$9.5 billion of loans.
The 2066 tranche was priced at roughly a 3.65-percentage-point spread over Treasuries.
Moody’s warns leverage will rise to about seven times earnings, comparable to speculative issuers.

1 / 3