The tech billionaire Larry Ellison has agreed to provide a personal guarantee of more than $40bn for Paramount Skydance’s fight to gain control of Warner Bros Discovery, amid an extraordinary corporate battle over the entertainment giant.

WBD urged shareholders to reject a $108.4bn hostile takeover bid from Paramount – which is controlled by the Ellisons – last week, having agreed to sell its storied movie studios, HBO cable network and streaming service to Netflix in a $82.7bn deal earlier this month.

WBD also accused Paramount of having “consistently misled” investors by claiming its offer had a “full backstop” – a safety net to ensure it has sufficient funds – from the Ellisons.

In a bid to address these concerns, Paramount said on Monday morning that Larry Ellison, the co-founder of tech giant Oracle, had agreed to personally backstop $40.4bn in equity financing for the proposed deal.

More details soon…