Netflix Tries to Seal the Deal with a Cash-Loaded Warner Bros Bid

Warner Bros. Discovery is moving closer to a major shake-up as several big media companies push in with new offers. People familiar with the talks say the company reviewed another round of bids on Monday.

One of the offers came from Netflix, and most of the money in that proposal is cash. These sources also said the auction might reach a decision in the next few days or sometime in the coming weeks.

According to the same people, teams from Paramount Skydance, Comcast and Netflix spent the Thanksgiving holiday working on updated offers. Paramount’s proposal is backed mainly by the family of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and part of the financing comes from Apollo Global Management and investors from the Middle East.

The bids that came in are binding, which means the board could approve a deal quickly if it meets what they are looking for. Even so, the company has not treated these latest offers as final. If someone comes forward with something stronger, they will look at it as per Bloomberg’s report.

Netflix is also said to be arranging a large bridge loan worth tens of billions of dollars to support its bid. Warner Bros. is aiming for a price of around $30 per share. Chair emeritus John Malone has described that target as “possible.” The company’s stock closed at $23.87 on Monday, putting its market value at close to $59 billion.

Warner Bros. placed itself on the market in October after receiving several surprise offers for all or parts of the business. Paramount, now run by David Ellison, had already made three attempts to buy the entire company, including the cable networks.

Comcast and Netflix are interested only in the Warner Bros. film studio and the HBO Max streaming service. If either of them wins, Warner Bros. still plans to separate its cable channels into a new company called Discovery Global. That move could be completed by the middle of next year.

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