Gulf sovereign wealth funds are undertaking a sweeping review of American investments, driven by a combination of commercial necessity and political recalibration driven by the Iran war, according to sources familiar with deliberations around the high-level financing deals.
In particular, the planned merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Brothers Discovery, made possible as a result of Gulf financing, is getting a new look. A postponed meeting of the board of the Qatar Investment Authority will reconvene within the next week as the fund recalibrates its investment approach, a source with knowledge of the deliberations said. “Even from a purely, purely numbers perspective, you have to look at this again,” said the industry source, asking for anonymity to speak freely about investment matters rarely discussed publicly.
No announcement from the meeting is expected, the source said, as the Qataris are unwilling to unilaterally back out of the deal without Saudi Arabia also doing so. Withdrawing from the deal would be seen as a political shot against both Israel and the United States, which Qatar feels it can not undertake alone under the current circumstances.
The merger between the two media conglomerates was announced on February 27, 2026. The next day, the U.S. and Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran, which responded, as promised, by attacking Gulf countries hosting U.S. bases. Those same Gulf countries are the primary financial backers of the merger, according to documents on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Wealth funds connected to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates pledged $24 billion to back the deal, which cost nearly $111 billion.
Under the current scenario, the Paramount deal remains likely to go through, but that could change if the war goes on for another month or longer and Gulf oil and gas assets come under even greater attack. Trump has turned his attention to Iran’s oil infrastructure, and Iran has pledged to retaliate by targeting Gulf oil and gas assets in response. Yet even the current circumstances are forcing a deeper look at the entire suite of deals in the sovereign wealth funds’ portfolios. A Paramount spokesperson declined to comment. Spokespersons for the Public Investment Fund (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), L’imad Holding Company PJSC (UAE), and Qatar Investment Authority (Qatar) did not respond to requests for comment.