Paramount Skydance executives believe that antisemitism is playing a role in opposition to the company's proposed $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, which still faces possible challenges from state AGs and European regulators.

• DOJ signed off on the deal last week, reportedly before career antitrust staffers had an opportunity to object.

The big picture: Debate over this merger has become more about personalities than policies, which is unusual.

Zoom in: Paramount CEO David Ellison has rubbed much of Hollywood the wrong way by cozying up to President Trump. The same goes for his father Larry, a major Trump donor who's helping to finance the WBD takeover.

• Some of this is standard California politics, but more relates to changes Ellison has made at CBS, including with 60 Minutes, which has created concerns about the future of CNN.
• Plus the Colbert cancelation, which technically predated Ellison but came just weeks before he acquired the network.

Behind the scenes: Makan Delrahim is Paramount's chief legal officer and led the DOJ's antitrust division during Trump's first term. In a recent LA Times interview, he said:

• "There's a lot of fear-mongering ... They are running a political campaign. Some of these people are trying to inflict harm on this transaction really because of their own antisemitic views."
• Delrahim's view is shared by others at Paramount, who argue the Ellisons' Judaism and close ties to Israeli President Bibi Netanyahu are a reason for why this merger is getting more pushback than have other studio deals.
• They point to a "Free Palestine" comment, and subsequent applause, made during a recent anti-merger event, plus how some anti-merger advocates have been critical of Israel. They also insist that some rhetoric has crossed from anti-Zionism into antisemitism — they are arguably different things — although that's obviously a matter of opinion.
• "I can't quantify it, but there seems to be an antisemitic component within the opposition," says Jon Leibowitz, an FTC chairman under President Obama who now is advising Paramount.
• One source does concede, however, that Paramount likely would be in a similar spot if the Ellisons were atheists but still tight with Trump.

Zoom out: No one at Paramount is arguing that state AGs, in California or elsewhere, are being driven by antisemitism. If lawsuits come, they'll likely be based in antitrust arguments around consolidation's impact on labor.

• Instead, they argue that the AGs are being pushed by a groundswell that is driven by animus for the Ellisons.

The bottom line: Paramount's case is much stronger on politics than religion, but both are more about the players than the game.

SpaceX (Nasdaq: SPCX) exercised a call option to acquire AI coding startup Cursor for $60 billion, according to an SEC filing.

Why it's the BFD: It appears to be the largest acquisition ever of a VC-backed startup, outside of when Elon Musk self-dealt for xAI.

ROI: Cursor raised $3.38 billion since its 2022 founding, from firms like Thrive Capital, a16z, OpenAI Startup Fund, BoxGroup, Dorm Room Fund, Accel, DST Global, WndrCo, CRV, Coatue, Nvidia, Hanabi Capital, and Lauder Partners.

• And then there's Alameda Research, the FTX affiliate that invested $200,000 into Cursor during its seed round. Court-appointed trustees sold the shares back to Cursor at cost during FTX's bankruptcy process. They would have been worth billions.

The bottom line: The purchase would be made in shares of SpaceX, which climbed another 20% yesterday and opened even higher this morning. It's expected to close in Q3.

• Sarvam, an Indian AI model and infrastructure developer, raised $234m at a $1.5b valuation. HCLTech led, joined by Bessemer Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, and Peak XV Partners. axios.link/4ecboVR

• Atom Computing, raised $100m in Series C funding led by Third Point Ventures, per Axios Pro. axios.link/4vdc7Mx

• Hydra Host, a GPU management startup, raised $100m in Series A funding. Kindred Ventures led, joined by Nvidia, Ark Invest, SPLY Capital, Era Funds, Comcast Ventures, Magnetar, Peak6, Founders Fund, 10x Founders, Sterling Road, and Flume Ventures. axios.link/4ep7HuZ

⚡️ GPS Renewables, an Indian biofuel developer, raised around $66.3m in Series C funding led by PixelSky Capital. axios.link/4vc3EJv

• Arcade.dev, an AI agent security company, raised $60m in Series A funding. SYN Ventures led, joined by Morgan Stanley and Wipro. axios.link/3SapcHU

• Bland, an SF-based voice AI startup, raised $50m in Series C funding. Dell Technologies Capital led, joined by HubSpot Ventures, Archerman Capital, and Tribeca Venture Partners and insiders Emergence Capital, Upfront Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, and YC.

• Interchecks, an NYC-based real-time payments platform, raised $50m in Series C funding from Bettor Capital, Commerce Ventures, Decades Holdings, and Thayer Street Partners. axios.link/43Wqg4Z

• Undo, a U.K.-based agentic AI debugging startup, raised $37m led by Elsewhere Partners. axios.link/4ekA3rz

• Powerus, a West Palm Beach, Fla.-based developer of drones and counter-drone interceptors, raised $30m from Unusual Machines, per Axios Pro. axios.link/3SI1u5U

• Copia, an NYC-based industrial code management and recovery provider, raised $26m, per Axios Pro. AE Ventures and Squadra Ventures led, joined by KAS Venture Partners and existing investors Construct Capital, Lux Capital, Ironspring Ventures, and Renegade Partners. axios.link/4ecXvqr

⚡️ Aston Power, a Raleigh, N.C.-based energy provider for data centers, raised $20m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. TDK Ventures and Building Ventures led, joined by JLL Spark Global. axios.link/4a1GkFQ

• Luni, a French mobile app studio, raised $14m in user acquisition financing from PvX Partners. axios.link/3S11y0z

🚑 Rocapine, a Paris-based maker of wellness apps, raised $13m in Series A funding. Educapital led, joined by Daphni, Ring Capital and Centre Court Capital. axios.link/4uBHiA8

• Nox Metals, a Detroit-based metals service center, raised $11.5m in seed funding. Hyperion led, joined by Operator Collective, YC, Palmer Luckey, DTX, and RoboStrategy. axios.link/3QFT5iU

• Lightbringer, a Swedish legal-tech focused on patents, raised $10m in Series A funding led by 6 Degrees Capital and Newion. axios.link/4oFDIn9

• Magnitude, a developer of autonomous AI workforce for continuous TPRM teams, raised $10m in seed funding led by Ballistic Ventures. magnitude.ai

🌎 Rainbow Crops, a Belgian crop engineering platform, raised €9.7m in seed funding. Liftt led, joined by Agri Investment Fund, PINC, VIB, Corteva, and Maia Ventures. axios.link/4xwN8W6

• El Dorado, a LatAm-focused app for cross-border payments, raised $9m in Series A funding. Paradigm led, joined by Coinbase Ventures and Verda Ventures. axios.link/4vf98mV

• Waniwani, an SF-based AI distribution platform for financial services, raised $8m in seed funding. Seedcamp led, joined by Redstone, Zone II Ventures, and Plug & Play. axios.link/4xxdNSF

• Sloneek, a Slovakian HR SaaS startup, raised $6m led by Orbit Capital and Venture to Future Fund. axios.link/3QHlRQc

⚡️ Vaja, a Swedish developer of solar-tracking tech, raised €3.1m in seed funding. The Footprint Firm led, joined by Node vc. axios.link/4oxH4Zo

🌎 Picketa Systems, a Canadian developer of crop nutrient sensing tech, raised C$2.1m. Tall Grass Ventures led, joined by BDC Seed Fund, Verdex Capital, Skull Diamond & Heart Capital, NBIF, Koan Capital, and East Valley Ventures. axios.link/4osehFw

🌎 Cordon Technologies, a British developer of precision-spraying systems for ag, raised £1m led by British Design Fund. axios.link/4osehFw

• LongRange Capital agreed to buy Pizza Hut from Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) for $2.7b. axios.link/43HDxOz

• Ardurra, backed by Littlejohn & Co., acquired Kelly Engineers, a Glen Mills, Pa.-based municipal engineering and surveying firm. axios.link/4vVd4sZ

• Cathay Capital acquired Equadis, a Swiss provider of product data management SaaS. axios.link/3StZGNT

🚑 Cleargate Capital Partners invested in Fellow Health Partners, a Great River, N.Y.-based provider of health care revenue cycle management services. axios.link/3Q7LwkW

• LDC invested in Fortus, a U.K. accounting and business advisory firm. axios.link/4vg07Kk

• Sixth Street Partners invested $140m for a minority stake in Chronograph, a provider of portfolio monitoring and valuations for institutional private capital LPs and GPs. Existing backers include Summit Partners, Carlyle AlpInvest, Nasdaq Ventures, and Sidekick Partners. axios.link/4vRqYMC

• Sundance Growth invested in CDWare, a Canadian provider of heavy-duty commercial fleet and delivery management software. axios.link/4eNoh87

• Truelink Capital agreed to invest in Horwitz, a Minneapolis-based provider of commercial and industrial mechanical, electrical and plumbing services. axios.link/4aTHm79

• Leader's Advantage Acquisition, a SPAC led by Paritosh Chakrabarti (PMC Group), filed for a $150m IPO. axios.link/3QsGKOO

• Osprey Acquisition III, a SPAC targeting energy and energy infrastructure, filed for a $261m IPO. axios.link/4oywFg2

• Yorkville International Capital, a SPAC led by Trump Media & Technology Group CEO Kevin McGurn, raised $200m in its IPO. It plans to target businesses in Latin America, with a specific mention of Venezuela. axios.link/49Anc1n

• Norwegian Air Shuttle (Oslo: NAS) agreed to acquire Nordic Leisure Travel Group, a hotel and travel experiences company, for up to $833m in cash and stock (plus earnouts) from Altor and TDR Capital. axios.link/4uFXD6T

• SailPoint (Nasdaq: SAIL), agreed to acquire Entro, an Israeli provider of non-human identity and credentials security, for a reported $200m. Entro had raised over $18m from firms like Dell Technologies Capital, StageOne Ventures, and Hyperwise Ventures. axios.link/4vibrWq

⚡ Western Midstream Partners (NYSE: WES) completed its $1.6b cash-and-stock purchase of Brazos Delaware II, focused on the Permian Basin, from Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners. axios.link/4d7PMrV

⚽ Crystal Palace's owners — including Josh Harris, David Blitzer and Woody Johnson — hired Raine Group to explore a sale, per the FT. axios.link/49XrtfK

• Germany's government rejected UniCredit's (Milan: UCG) €39b takeover bid for Commerzbank. BFD flashback.

• Olin (NYSE: OLN) agreed to merge with rival chemicals company Huntsman (NYSE: HUN) in an all-stock deal. axios.link/4xxfMGE

• Ripple acquired a stake in African fintech Flutterwave at a $3.3b valuation. axios.link/3Qkx74W

• Gutter Capital, an NYC-based early-stage firm, raised $75m for its third fund. axios.link/4erpWjc

• Zhiyan Cao joined Simpson Thacher & Bartlett as a NYC-based partner focused on secondary transactions. She previously was with Debevoise & Plimpton. axios.link/4vbdZW5

⚡️ James McEwan joined Moelis as a managing director of M&A, focused on the energy sector. He joins from Citi. axios.link/4xBcvpW

Warner Bros. Discovery shares are trading at a significant discount to Paramount's $31 per share takeover price, as investors remain skeptical that the deal will close.