It’s on! The bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery is in full bloom, according to exclusive reporting this week in the Wall Street Journal. Netflix and Comcast have joined Skydance/Paramount in preparing bids to acquire Warner Bros., in the lead-up to a November 20th deadline set by the studio for receiving proposals. CEO David Zaslav has confirmed that his company has received interest from multiple parties, complicating a deal that at one time seemed headed towards Skydance/Paramount.
Skydance/Paramount CEO David Ellison remains committed to taking on all of Warner Bros. Discovery’s assets, including its legacy cable and TV channels. Meanwhile, Comcast/Universal and Netflix are said to be focused on the studio and streaming parts of the company, without much interest in the cable and TV businesses.
At the same time, Warner Bros. Discovery is still marching towards a scheduled 2026 breakup of its own to create two separate companies, one to operate its studio and streaming services and the other for its TV and Cable businesses. Warner Bros. has already rejected multiple offers from Skydance/Paramount, with the most recent offer at $23.50 per share, for a total bid value of $58 billion in cash and stock.
Ellison has been in spin control since his interest in acquiring Warner Bros. was first reported. Many in the exhibition have soured on the CEO’s maneuvers, viewing the consolidation of Warner Bros. under a rival studio as a threat to the future flow of new movies to theatres.
On the other hand, Paramount has made a public commitment to increasing its total number of theatrical releases. And while Skydance/Paramount would be a concern for theatres, their anxiety would be multiplied tenfold if Netflix wound up taking over Warner Bros., described by one theatre exec as a “worst case scenario” for the industry.
