Warner Bros. Hangs Up The For Sale Sign

[GodfreyGR 812]

Let the sharks circle... WBD has announced this morning they are officially exploring a sale after receiving "unsolicited interest" from potential buyers (cough. Paramount). 

 

NBC reports that WBD is open to splitting up the company to multiple buyers. Newser cites analysts believing that Netflix, Apple, and Amazon are also interested.

[mre29 1967]

4 hours ago, GodfreyGR said:

NBC reports that WBD is open to splitting up the company to multiple buyers.

 

Good. WBD as a whole is too big for any one company to purchase.

 

Now let's hope whoever buys the cable channels is/are open to killing off channels that need to die. (I'm looking at you, HLN.)

 

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

There are assets that have been split before (such as the movies sold to A.A.P.) only to find their way back to Warner Brothers.  In this case, United Artists bought AAP, MGM then bought United Artists, Ted Turner bought MGM and kept their content while flipping back MGM to Kirk Kerkorian, then coming full circle when Time Warner bought Turner.

 

Hopefully the Discovery content is jettisoned, most of it is garbage anyways that has made HBO Max a mess.

[mre29 1967]

7 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Hopefully the Discovery content is jettisoned, most of it is garbage anyways that has made HBO Max a mess.

 

A large amount of the content from the Discovery Networks side of the WBD merger  has left HBO Max in recent months and is now only on Discovery+. It wouldn't surprise me if another such culling happens soon.

 

Most of the Discovery+ content is forgettable and some of it is truly garbage, but there are good shows amongst the piles:  MythBusters, the occasional show from HGTV,, likely some science shows, etc. Some of those should also stay available on HBO Max.

 

The real question is whether or not any cable channels will be shut down, either by WBD to trim the fat in advance of a sale or by the next owner to make room for new channels.

 

[NowBergen 924]

49 minutes ago, mre29 said:

 

A large amount of the content from the Discovery Networks side of the WBD merger  has left HBO Max in recent months and is now only on Discovery+. It wouldn't surprise me if another such culling happens soon.

 

Most of the Discovery+ content is forgettable and some of it is truly garbage, but there are good shows amongst the piles:  MythBusters, the occasional show from HGTV,, likely some science shows, etc. Some of those should also stay available on HBO Max.

 

The real question is whether or not any cable channels will be shut down, either by WBD to trim the fat in advance of a sale or by the next owner to make room for new channels.

 

 

It seems only Paramount Skydance is interested in the full company.  As mentioned, most of the Discovery channels (and Paramoutns) aren't worth it.  I doubt even Versant would want any of them now.  Based on reports, a Discovery spinoff as planned makes the most sense with NBCU, Apple, or Amazon buying the WB/HBO/HBO Max side.

[nomadcowatbk 188]

any less movies shelved for tax write offs?

[mre29 1967]

From the Guardian's politics live blog:

 

Quote

Who owns CNN's parent company 'is very important to the administration' - report

 

The Trump administration is making it known, through a report by a Fox Business correspondent published in the New York Post on Thursday, that it wants CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros Discovery, to be sold to his supporter Larry Ellison’s family.

 

“Who owns Warner Bros. Discovery is very important to the administration,” a senior Trump administration official reportedly told Charles Gasparino of Fox.

 

“The Warner board needs to think very seriously not just on the price competition, but which player in the suitor pool has been successful getting a deal done. And that points to the Ellisons,” the official said, referring to Paramount Skydance, run by David Ellison, the son of the billionaire Oracle founder.

 

The report from Gasparino also made explicit the fact that the White House could ease regulatory hurdles for its favored bidder.

 

Paramount Skydance, which has bid for Warner Bros Discovery, already owns CBS News and Comedy Central, home of John Stewart’s Daily Show, where Trump is often mocked and criticized. A combined company would also control CNN and HBO, which produces John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight, which also puts Trump under a harsh spotlight.

 

According to Gasparino, one rival bidder, Comcast, is weighed down by both “the anti-MAGA coverage of the cable giant’s far-left network MSNBC” and NBC’s Saturday Night Live, which employs a comedian largely because of his unflattering Trump impersonation.

 

Welp, as far as I'm concerned, this is one very good reason for Paramount to not get WBD.

 

[nomadcowatbk 188]

what happens to the lot and water tower in Burbank with AI and production moving outta CA?

[AmericanErrorist 267]

12 hours ago, nomadcowatbk said:

what happens to the lot and water tower in Burbank with AI and production moving outta CA?

Nothing until production completely ceases. Some films and television is shooting there and will continue to shoot there for some time yet.

[NowBergen 924]

2 hours ago, AmericanErrorist said:

Nothing until production completely ceases. Some films and television is shooting there and will continue to shoot there for some time yet.

Isn't it one of the busiest lots in Hollywood?

[nomadcowatbk 188]

21 hours ago, NowBergen said:

Isn't it one of the busiest lots in Hollywood?

Isn't production moving outta CA?

[Jase 1164]

On 10/24/2025 at 12:25 AM, mre29 said:

From the Guardian's politics live blog:

 

 

Welp, as far as I'm concerned, this is one very good reason for Paramount to not get WBD.

 

 

Unfortunately, Paramount is likely the only bidder interested in cable networks (i.e CNN). I don't think they can take on WBD as a whole (...there's just too much debt to assume).

[Megatron81 343]

Amazon if they buy WBD will get all of MGM library which would be full circle. I see a sale for WB studios & Discovery, but no one is buying it whole in my opinion a lot of debt as someone already said in the thread.