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"]

 

[Steevy Maximus]

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.

 

[Pocket]

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.

Nah, they just have to make a big donation to Donald Trump and/or fire everyone critical of him and they'll be allowed to buy out whatever they want, up to and including the entire US media establishment.

Oh, what's that you say? This isn't P&R? Too bad, it's hella relevant to this topic.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Nah, they just have to make a big donation to Donald Trump and/or fire everyone critical of him and they'll be allowed to buy out whatever they want, up to and including the entire US media establishment.

Oh, what's that you say? This isn't P&R? Too bad, it's hella relevant to this topic.

I mean, you're not wrong...but I was trying to be a bit more...tactful in my phrasing

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

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.

I thought they were splitting the company up, perhaps even for that very reason?

 

[Steevy Maximus]

I thought they were splitting the company up, perhaps even for that very reason?

They are, but the early reports were for a full company buy out before Warner "officially" announced the breakup of its assets. Skydance was making offers for the ENTIRE corporate entity, not just the entertainment or just the news/reality segments.

As it stands, the company still hasn't "officially" broken apart, even though those efforts will be ongoing IN ADDITION to possibly courting buy offers.

 

[Pocket]

You know who I'm surprised not to hear from whenever a media company goes up for sale? Sony. They snatched up Columbia-Tristar back in the '90s and haven't put in a bid for anything since. All they seem to have really gotten out of that is the Ghostbusters IP and a bunch of record labels, most of which folded when the music industry imploded. It might be about time they grabbed for a bigger piece of the pie.

WarnerMedia also owns a big chunk of MGM's back catalog. If I were Jeff Bezos, I'd be seeing this as an opportunity to get the library back together. And we know how much he loves having a stake in the news media, so surely he's been eying CNN for a while.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Last i knew, Sony wasn't as flush, or as willing to "debt up", as American companies to buy into as big a purchase like WB. That, and Sony has a much broader range of industries they have their hands into. With a more foreign focus, I think Sony would rather "play the players" than directly compete. Though, Sony might also be content being the dominant anime distributor in the US and leverage that angle.

With Amazon, they already snapped up the MGM assets, so I'm not sure what WB brings that would drastically move their bottom line. There's the reality aspect, but then Amazon is forcing itself into traditional media spaces it has largely eschewed in favor of its streaming service, so there might be more baggage than Amazon might be willing to deal with on that front.

But we'll see. It's equally possible that existing management, in trying to eek every last cent from the company, end up driving off suitors who just don't want to deal with their bullcrap.

 

[Pocket]

I checked just now, and according to Wikipedia, WarnerMedia not only still owns the entire MGM and United Artists back catalog up to 1986(!!!) but also acquired the distribution rights to the rest of their films back in 2020. Given that, I'm not sure what Bezos even bought other than the rights to the name.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

It's possible that Bezos doesn't know what he bought either. That's kinda how it goes when empires get that big.