Paramount’s $54 Billion Debt Plays a Starring Role in Warner Bid

Even if Paramount Skydance Corp. manages to take over Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. against the company’s will, it faces another high hurdle: coping with the colossal $54 billion of debt it’s planning to take on.

Paramount has a temporary financing package in place for the combined company, but it hasn’t locked in a maximum rate on more permanent borrowings for the transaction. The result could be the M&A world’s version of a big-budget Hollywood fiasco, with Paramount’s expenses spiraling beyond what it planned if debt markets sour and funding costs surge.

To get the financing, Paramount is pitching itself to ...