Although it seemed like the back and forth around the Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance deal will eventually come to a stop with the latter's $110 billion bid, the story has yet another chapter to it. On February 27, Warner Bros. Discovery finally agreed to be acquired by Paramount Skydance, crushing any hope for Netflix’s re-entry into the scene. The deal put an end to a five-month drama and placed the massive entertainment company that includes popular titles like Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, the DC Universe, Mission Impossible, and SpongeBob SquarePants under Paramount's care. 

It was supposed to be a deal for the better future of the entertainment media, until this one detail seemed to surface to several entities' dismay.

Taking a closer look at the specifics of the deal has revealed a major sovereignty investment for the newly merged media house, to everyone's concern. 

The proposed merger, which is backed by $24 billion from sovereign wealth funds in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, is generating discussion about media independence, soft power, and influence over and about Paramount. The corporation, which has helmed CNN and HBO, is now being backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), Abu Dhabi's L'imad Holding Company, and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), altogether, according to Variety.

The massive amount has several experts expressing how easy it will be for the newly introduced to have a say in important decisions of the organization. Even though Paramount has refuted any possibility of minor investors getting any governance rights, board seats, or even voting rights, the real question is whether they will really leave the entity alone after investing a fortune close to $24 billion.

Technically, without formal voting rights, they would require a sign-off by the US Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS) for any of their involvement. But this might be just another technicality, and maybe they can work their way around this rule. A majority of the industry has been worried about the possibility as well. 

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Among the many perturbed by this recent development, Netflix’s CEO has come out and made his feelings perfectly clear.

Speaking to the BBC in London, the morning following the recent BAFTA Film Awards, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos expressed his feelings about the Gulf sovereign funds supporting Paramount's bid. According to him, it is not in their best interest to partner up with someone to whom the "First Amendment" of the US Constitution does not mean much. 

“It seems very odd to me, with the level of investment that we’re talking about that they’d have no influence or editorial control over media in another country,” Sarandos said. He explained that someone with a significant stake in an organization is bound to eventually have a say or influence over the deal. 

Ted Sarandos was not the only one to point this out; several other important media persons and experts have voiced a similar concern. The Gulf's involvement in the Paramount and Warner Bros. deal has been declared as a problematic aspect of the merger, and for a future media house that will contain entities like HBO and CNN, it is being cited as alarming.

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What do you think will be the impact of this deal and the Gulf involvement on the future of the media industry? Do let us know in the comments.