Oracle's Ellison Guarantees Paramount Bid for Warner Bros.

Larry Ellison just put a chunk of his own fortune on the line to keep Paramount in the hunt for Warner Bros. Discovery. Paramount said Monday that Ellison, the billionaire co-founder of Oracle and father of Paramount CEO David Ellison, is personally guaranteeing about $40 billion in equity tied to the $108 billion bid, reports the New York Times. The move is designed to answer a key worry from Warner Bros. Discovery's board, which worried about the lack of a guarantee from the elder Ellison.

"We were not confident that one of the richest people in the world would be there at closing," board chairman Samuel Di Piazza said last week, per CNBC. "Doing a deal is great, closing a deal is better." Warner Bros. Discovery had already endorsed an $83 billion offer from Netflix before the Paramount offer surfaced. While Paramount did not increase its overall offer on Monday, the company raised the breakup fee it would pay if regulators kill the deal to $5.8 billion, matching Netflix's figure.