Paramount shares pop after BDT Capital bets on the media giant’s key shareholder [Video]

Paramount Global shares jumped nearly 6% on Friday after an investor known as Warren Buffett’s favorite banker piled into the media company’s controlling shareholder.

National Amusements, Paramount’s majority voting shareholder, announced Thursday afternoon that it has entered into an agreement for a $125 million preferred equity investment from BDT Capital Partners, an affiliate of BDT & MSD Partners.

Some Buffett watchers noticed a curious connection with the news. BDT & MSD Partners’ chairman and co-CEO is Byron Trott, who has long been known as Buffett’s preferred and trusted banker. It was Trott who suggested that Buffett throw a $5 billion lifeline to Goldman Sachs during the 2008 financial crisis.

The connection didn’t end there. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is actually Paramount’s biggest institutional investor with a stake of 15.4%, according to FactSet. Berkshire initially took the stake in the first quarter of 2022, and the bet is worth about $1.32 billion after Paramount’s recent sell-off.

Paramount has slid more …