Revised Warner Bros. Discovery bids include a bunch of Middle East money

An interesting potential (but probably unlikely) wrinkle to that approval comes from the news that Paramount’s latest bid includes cash from the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, according to Variety. The specific dollar amounts of all of the bids are still undisclosed, but the trade reports that Paramount’s is an all-cash bid and is higher than its first. It also includes financing from RedBird Capital and Apollo Global.  

Meanwhile, according to Bloomberg, Comcast has pitched combining Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. with its own NBCUniversal. NBCUniversal began its own spinning off earlier this year, sending most of its cable companies (minus Bravo) into a new company called Versant. Bloomberg reports that this merger would include the NBC network, Universal’s TV and film studios, and its theme parks (which already include some Warner Bros. properties via The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter). The idea is that HBO Max could help give Peacock a boost, too. Comcast would continue spinning off its cable channels, as would WBD. 

Finally, Netflix is still in the mix, this time offering more cash than what was reportedly a stock-heavy initial bid. There are still a few questions about what that could mean for Warner Bros.’ future theatrical releases, although Netflix has maintained that it would continue releasing films per WBD’s existing distribution deals.