Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said Tuesday his company is open for a sale after receiving unsolicited offers. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
Warner Bros. Discovery said it’s open to sale after getting several unsolicited offers for the entire company and some for just the Warner Bros. streaming and studios.
The company didn’t say which entities have expressed interest, but Paramount Skydance has been trying to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, Variety reported. Recently, Paramount, whose CEO is David Ellison, made an offer for $20 per share, and WBD rejected it, saying the offer was too low.
“We continue to make important strides to position our business to succeed in today’s evolving media landscape by advancing our strategic initiatives, returning our studios to industry leadership, and scaling HBO Max globally,” CEO David Zaslav said in a statement. “We took the bold step of preparing to separate the company into two distinct, leading media companies, Warner Bros. and Discovery Global, because we strongly believed this was the best path forward.”
Stock shares of WBD rose 9% in premarket selling Tuesday.
“It’s no surprise that the significant value of our portfolio is receiving increased recognition by others in the market. After receiving interest from multiple parties, we have initiated a comprehensive review of strategic alternatives to identify the best path forward to unlock the full value of our assets,” Zaslav said.
Sources told CNBC that Netflix and Comcast were some of those interested. Netflix wasn’t interested in buying legacy media assets, but wanted to prevent WBD from going to another buyer at a low price, a source said.
The company has struggled since the merger in 2022 of WarnerMedia and Discovery Inc. The merger added $40 million in debt, which the company has worked to lessen with cost-cutting.
