Warner Bros. Faces Major Shakeup As Studio Reportedly Up For Sale

Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery rose 10% in morning trade after the firm said on Tuesday, October 21, that it is broadening its strategic evaluation of the business and is open to a sale.

Warner Bros. said earlier this year that it would divide into two distinct companies: a worldwide networks business and a streaming and studios business. It has also been receiving takeover offers from Paramount Skydance, which just combined.

However, WBD announced on Tuesday that it has received “unsolicited interest” from a number of companies and will now consider all of its alternatives. According to the corporation, it is currently still working toward the split that was previously announced.

CEO David Zaslav said in a statement that the company is making significant progress in positioning itself to thrive in the current media landscape by advancing its strategic objectives, bringing its studios back to the forefront of the industry, and expanding HBO Max worldwide.

“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.”

“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,” he said.

According to someone familiar with the situation, WBD chose to publicly declare that it has received interest from a number of companies after turning down repeated bids from Paramount and an offer from a separate business that was greater than the Paramount price.

According to a source familiar with the situation, Netflix did not want to sell WBD to another buyer at a low price, but it was also not interested in purchasing heritage media assets.

Comcast will consider the prospect of pursuing WBD even though it does not feel compelled to make a deal.

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WBD and Paramount representatives have refrained from commenting on this. Comcast and Netflix have also not replied.

Since WarnerMedia and Discovery Inc. merged in 2022, leaving WBD with over $40 billion in debt, the firm has been dealing with escalating financial difficulties. Since then, it has aggressively reduced costs, reorganized its production pipeline, and concentrated on lucrative brands like the spinoffs of “Harry Potter” and “Game of Thrones.”

Though the firm has made progress in debt reduction, investors have remained apprehensive in part because of the company’s cable network holdings as customers move toward streaming.