John Malone Floats Potential Deal Between Skydance and SpaceX

(Bloomberg) -- Media mogul John Malone said he thinks there could be a deal coming between Skydance Corp. and Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Speaking at the Paley International Council Summit in New York on Wednesday, Malone said SpaceX could potentially invest $8 billion to $10 billion in Skydance, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

"I predict, big prediction, that you'll see a global output deal for Skydance with SpaceX, and an investment by SpaceX into Skydance, to delever Skydance and take a little bit of the burden off David Ellison's shoulders, because he's taking on a pretty big pile of debt," Malone said.

Malone pointed to close ties between Ellison's father, Oracle Corp. co-founder Larry Ellison, and Musk.

"Who helped Elon finance Twitter when he bought it? Larry Ellison," Malone said. "How did Larry Ellison come up with some of the money to put into the creation of Skydance? Tesla stock. And I would not doubt for a minute that before very long you're gonna see an announcement."

A representative for Skydance declined to comment. SpaceX didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

While Malone has largely stepped back from his network of companies, which includes Formula 1-parent Liberty Media Corp., and Liberty Global Ltd., a large pay-TV and telecom provider in Europe, he's still considered a major industry player and pundit. The long time cable-TV and media industry executive helped orchestrate Discovery Inc.'s 2022 acquisition of Warner Media. He left the board of the combined companies last year but supported the sale of the business.

Ellison's Skydance acquired Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., the parent of CNN, HBO and other media business, in an all-cash deal that was completed earlier this month. Since the deal closed, Skydance shares have tumbled over concerns about the new company's nearly $87 billion in total debt.

The acquisition involved a total equity investment of $47 billion. Three Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds were slated to contribute $24 billion, RedBird Capital Partners invested $4 billion and Shinsegae Group, a South Korean retailer, provided $1 billion. Semafor reported last month that Skydance executives had considered asking Musk to invest in the company.