Yesterday, Warner Bros. Discovery officially declared itself for sale. CEO David Zaslav claimed there were “multiple parties” interested in buying after it was widely reported that Paramount had thrown its hat into the ring. WBD had initially rejected Paramount’s bid for being too low, but now CNBC reports that Paramount put in not one, not two, but three bids to take over Warner Bros., and was rejected each time.
The most recent offer from Paramount was for just under $24 per share and was comprised of 80 percent cash, valued at slightly less than $60 billion, per Reuters. That’s a pretty good deal for WBD (which is currently valued at just under $50 billion). But based on the announcement yesterday, Zaslav is trying to drive the price up. Other parties said to be interested in buying include Netflix and Comcast (parent company of NBCUniversal), but most reports agree that it’s unclear how serious that interest is.
However, Business Insider notes that Apple would be interested—just not in buying the entirety of the WBD business. Instead, the tech company might pay top dollar for just the good parts, like HBO. Analysts have speculated that Paramount’s quick cash offer for the entirety of WBD was in fact a way to beat other buyers to the punch before WBD splits its business next year. Zaslav made it clear, though, that WBD is willing to sell itself for parts, so he can court other offers that might end up being more lucrative. Or, he could incite Paramount CEO David Ellison to offer even more for the whole company, which would also be a win. Ellison has proved to have the patience to hang on with a fickle seller: The Skydance-Paramount negotiations went on for months, and former owner Shari Redstone even walked away from a deal at one point. But Ellison won out in the end, so if he sticks it out, Paramount may still end up with WBD in the end.
