Key Points
- Apple and Amazon have joined a growing list of companies expressing interest in acquiring Warner Bros Discovery.
- Paramount, Comcast and Netflix are also among those interested in some or all of WBD.
- WBD is exploring various unsolicited offers while still moving forward with plans to spin out its cable networks business.
Apple and Amazon are among the latest companies to express interest in acquiring some or all of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), according to a report published on Wednesday.
The report, from Bloomberg, cited an unnamed source who relayed information about a meeting between WBD CEO David Zaslav and the company’s board of directors.
Earlier this week, WBD said it was exploring various unsolicited offers made by rival companies while it moves forward with a plan to separate its cable networks business from its more-lucrative film and streaming divisions.
As part of that exploratory process, WBD will begin asking prospective suitors to sign non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs, a common practice before two parties begin sharing sensitive, non-public financial data.
Paramount Global, fresh from its merger with Skydance Media, has been the most-aggressive with its various offers for WBD, which would keep the company’s business units intact. Those offers were valued between $19 per share and $24 per share; WBD rejected them because the company’s top executives felt they were too low, according to numerous reports.
Paramount is not the only one hoping to get its hands on WBD: Others like Netflix and Comcast have expressed an interest in acquiring WBD, though their bids were largely predicated on a desire to obtain more intellectual property and various production assets, Bloomberg report. It wasn’t clear if either company had submitted a formal bid for the company or how they planned to acquire or divest other WBD properties like its cable networks and streaming services HBO Max and Discovery Plus.
None of the companies have spoken publicly about their interest in buying WBD.
The rumors have spurred higher interest in WBD’s stock, with its share price jumping nearly 5 percent over the past 30 days. On Wednesday, WBD’s stock closed at $20.53 per share, and its price increased another 1.3 percent in after-hours trading following Bloomberg’s report.
Comcast, Amazon and Apple will disclose their third quarter (Q3) financial earnings before the end of October, while WBD and Paramount will reveal their Q3 earnings in early November.
