$110BN Media Megamerger. Every Bank on Earth. No UBS.
So Paramount drops a $110 billion enterprise value nuke on the media industry.
Ten banks crawling all over this thing.
On the Paramount side you’ve got:
- Centerview Partners (lead)
- RedBird Advisors
- Bank of America Securities
- Citi
- M. Klein & Company
- LionTree Advisors
On the WBD side:
Special Committee gets its own banker:
And the debt? A casual $54 billion of commitments from:
$47 billion equity backstopped by Ellison and RedBird.
$6 billion of synergies.
4.3x leverage.
All the IP, all under one roof.
And UBS?
Nowhere.
Not advising Paramount.
Not advising WBD.
Not advising the Special Committee.
Not leading debt.
Not backstopping the bridge.
You have a deal with more advisors than theatrical releases next year and somehow UBS still couldn’t squeeze onto the tombstone.
This is the exact type of situation where every bank with a pitchbook and a pulse fights for relevance. Media consolidation. Mega equity issuance. Monster debt stack. Rights offering. Regulatory complexity. Board special committees.
And UBS is watching it on CNBC like the rest of us.
At this point the Americas strategy must be performance art.
When Centerview, Allen & Co, Evercore and LionTree are feasting on media fees…
When JPM and BofA are writing $54 billion checks…
When even the Special Committee gets Barclays…
UBS is apparently “staying disciplined.”
Translation: staying home.
Ten banks.
Zero UBS.
If there were eleven spots, maybe.
If there were twelve, probably not.
Rebuilding the franchise one non-tombstone at a time.
Goldman Sachs & Co. notably left out
Conflicted…
Probably leading Netflix
Moelis & Company LLC is acting as Netflix’s financial advisor and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is serving as legal counsel. Wells Fargo is acting as an additional financial advisor and, along with BNP and HSBC, is providing committed debt financing related to the transaction.
Allen & Company, J.P. Morgan and Evercore are serving as financial advisors to Warner Bros.
GS and MS were advising Comcast
this is depressing lol...
GS was advising nobody… The media in TMT continues to trail behind the GS logo… here comes the “conflict of interest” excuse. What happen to Raine’s relationship with Ellison?
UBS is known for having a leading LevFin franchise for the single-B / sponsor backed companies of the world, neither of which apply to a corporate to corporate media mega merger (also the coverage which UBS is probably the weakest in, lol). Every BB on the buy side for Paramount is also leading the debt issuance. You could complain about RBC, Jefferies, or Deutsche not being on this deal either since those would be the most relevant comps. They’ll probably still be on the right for the debt issuance, like they were on EA. WSO is UBS hate echo chamber, but let’s be realistic as to why multiple US banks with giant balance sheets would be chosen over the European BBs (hint, it’s in the description)
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Thanks
Has anyone heard of RedBird Advisors? From my knowledge RedBird Capital doesn't have an advisory arm but I have no idea who else that could be. Google also didn't turn up any results
Not that NY Post is the most amazing business news source, but they seem to have the scoop that "RedBird Advisors" is basically just Chris Wallace reporting directly to the RedBird Capital founder. RedBird has helped fund prior Ellison family acquisitions so imo they're just getting them some cred and maybe some small fees, they're not an actual investment bank
https://nypost.com/2025/08/25/media/chris-wallace-advising-private-equi…
Got it. Interesting that it may just be him and potentially a couple of juniors considering he doesn't come from a finance background. Maybe it was just relationship management and him giving some thoughts on programming synergies? Either way it seems to have worked out
Interesting. Good digging - thanks!
Ironically this is the perfect “walk me through a recent deal” scenario for prospects. Literally can use the same one for any bank you interview at
UBS Media couldn’t get on this deal…
More AI slop! Let’s go!
UBS doesnt have any competent media bankers so unsurprising. Even if there were 15 banks involved UBS still wouldnt get a role no matter how junior.
The bank doesn’t have any competent banker because they are too cheap to pay rainmakers, so are left with 0 rainmakers and with MDs simply begging for junior roles on any deal
Lmao has nobody been following the saga over the last few months? Redbird Advisors is not a financial advisor, its Redbird Capital, which is the other sponsor (along with the Ellison's) backing the Paramount bid. Notably, John Thornton is the chairman.
And GS not on it because they were advising Comcast on their bid for WBD. They are also lead advisor on Comcast's spinoff of Versant announced in 2024... so they never really had the chance to chose their horse in this race.
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