However, the stock flagged. In June of this year, Warner Bros announced a plan to split into two businesses, one focused on cable TV, the other on streaming and studios. Zaslav calculated he could get a hefty premium for the streaming and studio businesses once they were separated from the debt-laden cable networks, people familiar with the deal said.
Who ends up with the assets of Warner Bros Discovery Inc, the owner of one of Hollywood’s largest and most venerable film studios, is likely to impact the entertainment industry for decades to come. On Dec 5, the company announced that Netflix Inc, the world’s dominant streaming platform, had agreed to purchase its streaming and studio assets in a US$82.7 billion ($107.23 billion) deal, including debt. Three days later, Paramount Skydance Corp launched a hostile takeover bid for all of Warner Bros. The offer values the company at US$108.4 billion in total. Either deal would require regulatory approval.
Why is Warner Bros up for grabs?
Streaming has changed the way movies and TV shows are distributed, putting pressure on legacy media companies by cutting into revenue from cable subscriptions, advertising and movie ticket sales. Struggling to come up with its own online offerings, Warner Bros, under CEO David Zaslav, engineered a 2022 merger with Discovery Inc, a provider of relatively low-cost unscripted and lifestyle programming.
