The FCC's Media Bureau released Declaratory Ruling DA-26-1001 on 17 September, and the number in the coverage is not the one in the order. Wires reported the Bureau letting foreign investors own "more than 25%" of Paramount. What it granted is up to 100% indirect foreign equity in the aggregate, with advance approval for each named investor to reach 20%.
Paragraph 30 lists seven entities above 5%, summing to 87.5%. They are three sovereign funds counted at each tier of a chain: Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund at 15.1%, four L'Imad entities all at 12.8%, two Qatari names both at 10.6%. Read as chains, the named sovereign stake comes to 38.5%, inside an expected 49.5% aggregate foreign Class B.
None of it votes, and the Bureau found the voting requests moot: the 4 September Team Telecom letter commits each foreign investor's interest to "consist entirely of non-voting stock without any governance or information rights." Ellison and RedBird keep 100% of Class A and 100% of the votes; changing that takes a new petition.
Nor is the 100% ceiling novel. The ruling cites Univision in 2022 and Searchlight in 2023, both granted up to 100% aggregate foreign ownership.
Declaratory Ruling DA-26-1001 — 17 September 2026
Everything here is from Declaratory Ruling DA-26-1001 of 17 September 2026: the grant and the mootness finding at paragraphs 1-2 and 29-31, the holdings at 4, the vehicles at 5, the named holders at 30. Paramount's own Petition supplies the 49.5%, quoted there. Team Telecom's letter is quoted through the ruling's footnotes, not published. Reading the seven items as three chains is ours.