Paramount Skydance, Comcast and Netflix are preparing first-round bids for Warner Bros Discovery, with non-binding offers due by Thursday, according to multiple reports. Warner Bros Discovery has launched a formal auction and is aiming to wrap the process by the end of 2025.
People familiar with the process say Paramount intends to bid for the whole company and has already made a series of unsolicited approaches that helped trigger the review. The Ellison-controlled group – backed by Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and RedBird Capital – is said to be readying a largely cash proposal. Its most recent indicative offer is understood to have been pitched at around $23.50 (€20.35) a share, close to a 90 per cent premium to Warner Bros Discovery’s valuation before news of the interest emerged.
Comcast and Netflix are instead focused on the Warner Bros film and television studios and the Max streaming platform, and are not expected to bid for the linear portfolio, which includes CNN, TNT and Discovery Channel. For both groups, adding Warner’s studio and streaming operations would boost scale against global tech rivals without taking on the full weight of legacy cable assets.
In parallel with the sale process, Warner Bros Discovery is working on a plan to split itself into two companies – one combining the studio and streaming assets, and a second housing its cable networks – giving bidders the option of pursuing either a break-up or a full takeover. The review follows a period of weak share performance and rising pressure on chief executive David Zaslav to find a longer-term structure for the business.
Paramount Skydance is betting that a straightforward, whole-company transaction would face fewer regulatory obstacles than rival offers that combine Warner’s streaming scale with either Comcast’s NBCUniversal or Netflix’s global SVOD business. A Netflix-Warner tie-up in particular is expected to draw close scrutiny from the US Department of Justice, with former FCC official Blair Levin suggesting the streaming market could be defined in a way that allows a Trump administration to challenge the deal.
Comcast’s ambitions are complicated by long-running political tensions around its ownership of NBC News and MSNBC, even as the company points to roughly $38 billion in adjusted earnings last year to argue it has the balance sheet to fund a major deal. Netflix, whose market capitalisation is approaching $500 billion, is seen as having the deepest financial firepower, and views Warner’s library and franchises as a way to strengthen its content offering without taking on cable networks it does not want to operate.
