Warner Discovery up for sale

[Steevy Maximus]

I thought I had a thread about this (or adjacent), but I guess not...but for the last several weeks, newly created Paramount Skydance (resulting from the merger of Skydance and Paramount Global this past summer) has been courting David Zaslav concerning a potential buyout for Warner Discovery. WBD has issued a press release concerning that the board is openly accepting offers for a partial or total sale of the company after declining a cash heavy offer from Skydance.

Warner Bros. Is For Sale?!?

Yesterday Warner Bros. Studios who owns among other things DC Comics released a press release pretty much stating it was FOR SALE and that it had received uns

toynewsi.com

Previously announced, WBD is looking to "split itself" into two new companies, with one (Warner Bros) tied to the company's prior film, TV, streaming, and gaming libraries, while the other (Discovery Global) would center around CNN, Discovery, TNT Sports, and other media properties (AKA, the media channels). In recent days, after news of the refused offer from Skydance, both Comcast and Netflix have been named as potential suitors for some or all of the company.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Netflix has, thus far, brushed off the rumors, indicating they have "no interest in owning legacy media networks". However, if they can get WB for decent price, it would VASTLY expand the company's catalog of content, even if they don't have significant interest in the mainstream film distribuiton.

I feel Comcast would face significant pushback (as Paramount would have) in an anti-trust sentiment, with further consolidation from 5 major new media provides (Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN) down to, effectively, four. Unless it would be simply be for the WB assets, which would VASTLY bolster the content they have from Universal. That said, given the current administration's...flexibility...I'm not sure how much fight a company would have in any merger.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Comcast makes a lot of sense. I'm looking at Universal's parks and wondering how much they'd like easier access to WB properties.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Assuming this deal ends up echoing the Fox split, Comcast probably has a decent chance just getting Warner Bros and the media library. But if they try to snag the entire company with Discovery? That’s where I see the biggest anti-Trust issues.

 

[Shadewing]

I know mergers and jive like this isn't the best thing, but ANYTHING that gets WB and DC stuff away from Zslav, I am all for. I seriously doubt anyone could do worse then him with those legacy brands.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]