Netflix, Comcast and Paramount are the frontrunners in the proposed Warner Bros buyout as the deadline for bids looms. Warner Bros, you may have heard, is up for sale. In October, the studio’s boss David Zaslav said in a statement that he was looking for a means of unlocking “the full value of our assets,” ... Three firms prepare bids for Warner Bros ahead of 20th November deadline
Netflix, Comcast and Paramount are the frontrunners in the proposed Warner Bros buyout as the deadline for bids looms.
Warner Bros, you may have heard, is up for sale. In October, the studio’s boss David Zaslav said in a statement that he was looking for a means of unlocking “the full value of our assets,” which was his business-y way of putting a for-sale sign outside the Warner building.
Bids swiftly came in from Paramount Skydance, which were rejected, while the two other major interested parties are Netflix and Comcast, the media corporation that already owns Universal, among other things.
Most recently, Paramount is reported to have put in another bid, this time for $71bn; Variety, which ran the story, had sources claiming that a significant part of that sum would be from a consortium of Middle Eastern wealth funds. Paramount issued a stern rebuttal, calling the report “categorically inaccurate”, though the company didn’t specify whether it was the $71bn figure that was inaccurate, the source of the funds, or both.
Whatever the truth is, the deadline for bids is looming – initial offers will need to be in by Thursday (20th November), at which point the bidders will also need to state their case to Warner Bros’ directors. It’s not all about money, you see? Although it is mostly about money.
Read more: Warner Bros | Can we afford to lose another major movie studio?
The Writers Guild of America had previously warned against allowing yet another huge merger to take place, arguing in an October statement that it would be “a disaster for writers, for consumers and for competition.”
Eventually, they argue, the entertainment landscape will be controlled by a tiny number of vast companies, leading to fewer jobs and more homogenised output.
Not that there’s much in the way of legislation to stop another merger happening. President Trump waved through Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount only a few months ago, so it’s likely he’ll give the approval to whoever buys Warner Bros.
The name of the winning bidder will emerge over the next few days. There’s one clear winner in this scenario: if and when the deal’s closed, David Zaslav stands to receive $500m as part of the sale. It’s not all about money, though.
