Warner Bros. Discovery, owner of HBO, CNN and other streaming and studio companies, announced Tuesday that it is putting itself up for sale.
In a press release, the company announced “a review of strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value,” which is Wall Street’s pitch for a sale. Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) said it recently received “unsolicited interest” from “multiple parties, both for the company as a whole and for Warner Bros.” alone.
WBD is home to a variety of media companies, from cable networks and media outlets to popular franchises, movie studios and streaming platforms. The company also owns the rights to broadcast a range of sports internationally, from the Olympics and French Open in Europe to the Premier League in the UK.
The company said that while doing its own research, it would continue to work on the previously announced separation of its cable networks from its streaming and studio businesses.
Warner Bros. shares Discovery shares surged on the news, rising more than 10% in early trading.
The move comes as the media industry continues a years-long consolidation effort, triggered in part by changes in consumer habits, including the rise of Internet-based competitors such as Netflix and the decline in cable TV audiences.
Any deal covering part or all of the business would be significant. At the close of trading on Monday, Warner Bros. Discovery had a market value of over $45 billion. It also carries billions of dollars of debt on its balance sheet.
WBD’s studio business could be attractive to a streaming or tech company. It has recently released a number of box office hits and owns the rights to Harry Potter and DC Comics heroes such as Superman, as well as other popular franchises.
In September, its rival Paramount Global was preparing a bid for all of WBD, but it seemed to stall in recent weeks.
Tuesday’s news injects new uncertainty into WBD’s business, which has seen a series of changes in recent years.
In the early 2000s, when it was called Time Warner, the company was transformed by a series of deals, including the spinoff of Time Warner Cable and Time magazine. In 2014, the company faced a takeover bid from News Corp. by Rupert Murdoch, which was later withdrawn.
AT&T acquired Time Warner in 2016 for $85 billion, merging it with some television assets it already owned. But that deal was the subject of a years-long battle with the Justice Department, which sought to block it on antitrust grounds. AT&T ended up splitting the company in another deal, which paved the way for a merger with Discovery in 2022.
In June, Warner Bros. Discovery has announced its latest deal, which will ultimately separate HBO and its streaming platform HBO Max, as well as studio Warner Bros. and DC Comics, into a new company.
WBD’s latest announcements closely mirror the actions of other major media companies.
Earlier this year, Skydance acquired CBS owner Paramount, while in late 2024 Comcast announced it would spin off several of its cable networks, including CNBC and MSNBC, into a new company called Versant.
Under Comcast’s spinoff plan, streaming platform Peacock, Bravo and broadcast network NBC will remain part of Comcast, which owns NBC News parent company NBCUniversal.
