The quest to sell Warner Bros. Discovery has been a long and complicated one. Shortly after Paramount emerged as the top candidate to acquire the company, other suitors quickly popped up, such as Comcast and Netflix. There have been numerous twists and turns regarding the buyers since then. Paramount seemed determined to acquire WBD, but after multiple submitted offers, CEO David Ellison hinted at the possibility of stopping his efforts to merge with the studio.
Then, Netflix, which was initially reported as a largely uninterested party, gradually became one of the strongest contenders. Following all fo that uncertainty, a major development has occurred in the sale process. WBD set a November 20 deadline for interested parties to submit a first round of non-binding bids for the company. It was then confirmed they had been submitted.
Now, Variety has revealed (initially reported by Bloomberg) that, after receiving the offers, Warner Bros. Discovery has now requested a second round of bids, which the company expects to be higher than the previous ones. The David Zaslav-led company set a December 1, 2025 deadline for this new round. The report was separately confirmed by Deadline, The Wrap, and The Hollywood Reporter.
These latest bids are particularly important, as they could be a determining factor in the future of Warner Bros. Discovery. According to Bloomberg, should one of the new bids be attractive enough, WBD, "may enter a period of exclusive negotiations with one of the companies." This means there's a possibility that shortly after December 1, the future owner of the studio will be known.
Yet, that doesn't mean the situation is cut and dried, As stated, the studio will enter into exclusive negotiations with whichever party submits the best bid. Said negotiations could fall through. Then, if a deal does happen, Deadline cautions there could be another year before the transaction is approved by regulators to finally become official.
One major absence from this nail-biting race is Disney. The corporation has acquired various companies and brands over the years, such as Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Fox. Despite that track record, the company is sitting out what's one of the biggest sales in Hollywood history. In fact, Disney CFO Hugh Johnston has made it clear that the company isn't interested in participating in the sale. Johnston told CNBC:
"What they're talking about doing, it's really what we did 10 years ago, whether it was the Fox deal or the Pixar deal or the Lucasfilm deal. Bringing more in house is something that we did a good long time ago. As a result of that, we don't really need to participate in these things."
The three main candidates want different things for Warner Bros. Netflix and Comcast are said to favor splitting the company, only purchasing the studio assets (film, television and streaming), leaving traditional-TV networks behind. Paramount, on the other hand, is eyeing to acquire the whole corporation.