Warner Bros. Discovery sets deadline for initial acquisition bids
Warner Bros. Discovery sets deadline for initial acquisition bids
The company wants to end the first round of the bidding process by Nov. 20, giving interested parties days to send in their best offers.
It looks like Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is getting the bidding war he wanted for his company. WBD is soliciting merger and acquisition bids, and there are three companies that have emerged as the most likely suitors: Comcast, Netflix, and Paramount. Each has been running numbers and enlisting bankers to determine how much they can afford to pay for the WBD assets they want, but the time to gather that preliminary information is just about finished, as Warner has informed them they have just a few days left to submit actual bids.
Key Details:
- Deadline set: WBD wants initial bids submitted by Nov. 20.
- Who wants what?: Netflix and Comcast only want a part of WBD, while Paramount wants the whole company.
- Getting political?: The current presidential administration could play a big role in the final outcome of the bidding process.
Per exclusive reporting from The Wall Street Journal, WBD has set a deadline of Nov. 20 for companies to submit nonbinding first-round bids. The company is holding an auction process and wants to have that process complete by the end of 2025.
Paramount has already submitted multiple offers for WBD, but all have been rejected thus far. It will participate in the auction process and prefers to submit an all-cash bid that would see it acquire all of Warner Bros. Discovery — its streaming and movie studio segment, as well as its linear assets.
Netflix’s interest has was first established in September, but unlike Paramount, it only wants to acquire WBD’s streaming and studio assets. Comcast, too, only wants this portion of WBD, and does not want to purchase cable assets like TNT, Food Network, HGTV, and other networks.
What resources does each company have to pursue WBD? Netflix has plenty of cash on hand to make a deal and can essentially afford to pay whatever it wants. Paramount is backed by billionaire Larry Ellison, father of company CEO David Ellison, and a person close to Comcast told WSJ that the company is “financially strong” and able to make an earnest offer.
Politics could play a big role in whoever ends up succeeding in their pursuit of WBD. The Trump administration has shown plenty of willingness to intercede in media transactions if it thinks it can gain an advantage by doing so, and policy advisor and former FCC official Blair Levin told WSJ that it could be “hard” for Netflix to successfully acquire any of WBD, as conservatives have no love for company co-founder Reed Hastings.
Trump has long been a public critic of Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, and some think that personal enmity could prompt regulators to block any deal between that company and WBD. Before that step in the process is reached, however, WBD must receive actual bids from all interested parties, and initial offers are due by Nov. 20.
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