The Town with Matthew Belloni Warner Bros. Is Officially for Sale. It's Paramount vs. ... Whom?
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Oct 22, 2025 Peter Supino, a senior media analyst at Wolfe Research, joins to dissect the potential sale of Warner Bros. Discovery. He dives into the rejected Paramount bid, sorting through the financial implications and bidder dynamics. The conversation explores whether to sell the entire company or split it into units. Supino highlights Paramount Skydance as a likely buyer and discusses Comcast's limitations. They also consider if Netflix, Apple, or Amazon might enter the fray, while analyzing the board's influence on these decisions.
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Company Split Enables Flexible Sale Paths
- Warner Bros. Discovery launched a review of strategic alternatives, signaling possible sale of whole company or parts.
- The split into studios/streaming and cable networks creates flexible paths for either bundled or separate transactions.
Paramount's Bid Relied Heavily On Synergies
- Paramount's $23–$24 per share bid credited synergies and $3.1 billion of cost savings to sellers, valuing Warner around $60 billion.
- The board rejected that as too low, highlighting the gap between bidder math and Warner's expectations.
Timing And Taxes Shape Sale Strategy
- Warner's board can sell studios/streaming out of the company before a formal split, but tax and timing make a staged split attractive.
- David Zaslav prefers splitting then auctioning the 'good' assets while retaining control of studios and streamers.