It’s time to up the ante. After the first round of offers arrived for Warner Bros. Discovery, the studio giant led by David Zaslav has set the next deadline for sweetened offers from suitors.
This next wave of multibillion-dollar deals is expected by Dec. 1, a source confirms. This is only 11 days from the initial offers which were submitted on November 20. While David Ellison-owned Paramount has pursued a full buyout of Warner Bros. assets. Discovery, Comcast, led by Brian Roberts, and Netflix, led by Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos, submitted bids.
The latter two suitors are expected to be more interested in studio and streaming businesses than linear TV properties, while Paramount could aim to acquire the entire company. “Look, what I would also say, as far as M&A in terms of our mindset, I think it’s important to know that there are no must-have obligations for us,” Ellison said during a Nov. 10 earnings call as he completed his first 100 days of ownership at Paramount. Bloomberg earlier announced the deadline for the second round of offers.
The upcoming offering marks the latest twist in a process that accelerated starting in June when Warners formally unveiled a plan to separate its studio businesses (Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, DC Studios, HBO and HBO Max) from its global networks unit (CNN, TNT Sports, Discovery and streamer Discovery+), which has been diminished as cord-cutting has eroded the pay-TV landscape.
After news of Ellison’s overtures leaked, the company officially posted a “For Sale” sign on October 21, saying it had received “unsolicited offers” from “multiple parties,” although conventional wisdom suggests that Oracle owner Larry Ellison’s son (current net worth: $257 billion) has the preferred lead. The younger Ellison only finalized an $8 billion merger just a few months ago, in August, for Skydance Media to effectively take over the owner of Paramount Pictures, CBS, MTV and Paramount+. The addition of Warner Bros. to all of New Paramount’s assets would create a formidable studio empire that would also eliminate another major player from the mix of buyers for film and television projects. Creatives have been cautious as the prospect of a Warner Bros. sale.
At the time of its official listing, Warners itself indicated that it would like to see the separation of its assets progress, believing that the two companies would provide more value to shareholders when ultimately sold in pieces. Samuel A. Di Piazza, Jr., Chairman of the Board of Directors of Warner Bros. Discovery, said at the time: “We continue to believe that our planned separation to create two distinct, leading media companies will create attractive value. That said, we have determined that taking these steps to broaden our scope is in the best interests of shareholders.”
According to Warners’ Nov. 6 earnings release, Zaslav had declared the sale as an “active process” but had not named any suitors as WBD’s board will evaluate its options as the process moves forward. He added: “When you watch our films like Superman, Weapons And One battle after anotherHBO Max’s global reach and the diversity of our network offerings, we have successfully carried forward the best and most treasured traditions of Warner Bros. in a new era of entertainment and new media landscape.
