Affinity Partners, the private equity firm founded by President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, said Tuesday that it has dropped out of Paramount Skydance's $108.4 billion hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery.
The exit, first reported by Bloomberg, came a week after Paramount Skydance made the all-cash bid to Warner Bros. Discovery, just days after Netflix had agreed to buy a part of Warner Bros. in a deal valued at $82.7 billion.
"With two strong competitors vying to secure the future of this unique American asset, Affinity has decided no longer to pursue the opportunity," an Affinity spokesperson told CBS News in a statement. "The dynamics of the investment have changed significantly since we initially became involved in October. We continue to believe there is a strong strategic rationale for Paramount's offer."
Paramount Skydance is the parent company of CBS News.
In addition to Affinity, Paramount Skydance's bid had other outside financing partners, according to a Paramount Skydance regulatory filing, including Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Qatar Investment Authority.
Affinity's role in the Paramount offer generated some criticism over the firm's connection to Mr. Trump, and some Democratic lawmakers expressed concerns over foreign money in America's largest media companies.
"I'm deeply concerned about the implications here for data privacy, democracy and our media ecosystem," Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts said last week in a joint letter to Warner Bros. Discovery President and CEO David Zaslav.
The outside investment firms have agreed to give up any governance rights, including seats on the board of directors of a combined firm, according to the regulatory filing. Mr. Trump has also said he plans to be involved in the government approval process of a deal. The president had signaled the Netflix-Warner Bros. deal could face hurdles, saying the combined company's size "could be a problem." He also said he would be involved in any decision about whether the federal government should approve the deal.
Regardless of Paramount Skydance's bid, Netflix had already reached an agreement to purchase some of Warner Bros. Discovery, including the film studio and streaming service HBO Max.
Netflix's deal is expected to close after Warner Bros. Discovery spins off its cable television networks division, Discovery Global, which is now expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2026.
Paramount Skydance's tender offer is set to expire on Jan. 8, 2026, unless it is extended. The offer is backed by the Ellison family — Paramount CEO David Ellison's father is Larry Ellison, who leads software maker Oracle Corp. and is the second-richest person in the world with a net worth of $277 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index — as well as investment firm RedBird Capital.