Media, Netflix raises bid to acquire Warner Bros Discovery
According to Bloomberg reports, the offer would be predominantly in cash
US media giant Warner Bros. Discovery has received a second round of bids to be acquired in whole or in part by three of its main competitors, and according to Bloomberg reports, among the bids is one, mostly in cash, from Netflix. The world's number one streaming company is reportedly working on a tens of billions of dollars bridge loan to win the Harry Potter film studios.
The other companies interested in the deal are Paramount Skydance and Comcast. In the past, the former has had a predominantly cash offer of almost $24 per share that valued Warner Bros Discovery at $60 billion rejected. On Monday, the stock closed at $23.87 in New York.
After receiving several bids, Warner Bros Discovery - under whose umbrella are also Hbo and CNN - officially put itself up for sale last October. The offers for its acquisition are binding, so the board could either give the go-ahead for the sale quickly, or call for a third round of bids. In the event of a sale to Comcast or Netflix, the most likely scenario is that the company will be dismembered, as the two suitors are only interested in the film studios and Hbo Max. The spinoff of the now less profitable cable channels could take place by the middle of next year.
Paramount's plans are different: the previous offers from the company led by Larry Ellison's son David were for the company as a whole, including CNN. Larry Ellison is the founder of Oracle, is the third richest man in the world and is one of the American entrepreneurs closest to Donald Trump. If the deal goes through, it would be the second big merger in 2025 after the 8.4 billion merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media.
