Warner Bros. For Sale: Pros And Cons Of Every Potential Suitor

Coming off the heels of a massive Paramount sale, it sounds like another major studio is heading for the same fate. Here is every potential suitor for a Warner Bros. sale and what it means for Hollywood and beyond.

AT&T bought WarnerMedia in 2018 for $85B, then subsequently spun off Warner Bros. and merged it with Discovery to create Warner Bros. Discovery. What came with it was a lot of debt—debt that they had to reduce as quickly as possible. So then began David Zaslav, CEO of the new company in his effort to, in essence, make the company as valuable as possible as quickly as possible.

So came tax write-offs of filmed movies such as Batgirl, Coyote vs. Acme (this was later sold instead of a write-off), and Scoob! Holiday Haunt. Shows were canceled on both MAX and HBO in order to make room for more IP-driven projects.

Following this came the beginning of the DCU, development of a new Harry Potter show, IT: Welcome to Derry was greenlit, even more Game of Thrones spinoffs, and more Lord of the Rings films for example.

Warner Bros. tried to maximize their IP in order to make the company as valuable as they could for this exact moment. Their plan has seemingly worked, Warner Bros. Discovery is far more valuable than it was before. Their theatrical slate this year did tremendously, they’ve got massive IP-driven projects coming soon, and they’ve reduced their debt.

All of this has led to what will likely a bidding war. Fox, before being bought, commenced a bidding war between Disney and Comcast for the company that kept raising the value. Seemingly by announcing they’re willing to be sold, Warner is trying to do the same here. Here are all the potential suitors for a Warner Bros. Discovery sale

Paramount Skydance

Skydance completed their sale of Paramount earlier this year, and they are seemingly the first to bid on Warner Bros. Discovery. Their interest has started this entire sale. Skydance, at first glance, is not a very big company but Larry Ellison, the second-richest person in the world, would fund the effort.

It’s been reported that Warner has already declined an offer from Skydance for nearly $24 a share for the company. This would value it at around $59.4B. This rejection is par for the course, considering a bidding war would likely only make this number go up and up.

Pros: Paramount is focused on theatrical films and they have deep pockets to eat up any potential debt that comes their way. David Ellison, CEO of the company, has stated that he wants to make more content which would be a good sign for Warner but it’s unclear if this plan would actually come to pass.

Cons: To make another merger happen, a lot would have to be sold or canceled in order to make it fit anti-trust regulations. Paramount has nearly sacked 2000 jobs post merger which isn’t a good sign for another merger which would make way for more job losses.

Netflix

Netflix is said to be in the race for Warner. They’re reportedly interested and they have the money to make it happen.

Pros: Netflix and HBO Max coming together would make their catalog nearly unbeatable (but it would likely be able to price itself way too high cable-style).

Cons: Netflix historically hasn’t cared for theatrical releases. They prefer streaming releases in order to bulk up their subscriber count so it does come into question whether they’re buying Warner to make their catalog better and add more IPs to their streaming service or if they actually care about Warner’s theatrical slate and future. If it’s the latter, a lot of Warner will inevitably be gutted and could further kill theaters and physical media. Netflix’s content standards would likely hurt HBO shows as well.

Comcast

It’s not surprising Comcast wants to buy Warner. They would’ve bought Fox had they not been outbid by Disney.

Pros: Comcast and Universal are very theatrical-focused. This lends well for Warner Bros. chances of being theatrically focused post sale. Universal is also relatively creator friendly which has been a goal of Warner since their Discovery merger, so Universal/Comcast would likely continue their partnerships with the likes of Ryan Coogler, Tom Cruise, Bill Lawrence, etc.

Cons: There will likely be a lot of properties that Comcast is forced to sell to be able to fit the anti-trust regulations. Sports, cable channels, potentially some IP, etc. would have to be sold to make it happen. Their theme parks for example contain Marvel based rides which would make the DC buy more murky.

Amazon

Amazon is reportedly interested in Warner which makes sense. They already bought MGM.

Pros: Amazon has been more theatrically focused as of late so Warner may actually be a step closer to serving that interest further for them especially with their focus on MGM. It would also help Amazon potentially make better content.

Cons: Amazon has not had a great track record with the IP they’ve bought. Amazon has made a lot of changes with their film and TV divisions as of late so acquiring another company in the midst of that will put a lot of things into question for the streamer. Prime Video, like Netflix would also have prices for the streaming services be increased by a good amount.

Apple

Apple has long been rumored to be interested in Warner Bros. Now there’s a chance it comes to fruition. When asked about buying Warner earlier this week, Apple’s top services executive said “I never say no to anything but we’re not looking at buying any companies of any size”.

It’s hard to know whether this was the complete and utter truth but as it stands, there’s only been speculation of interest for Apple so until they come forward with interest or a bid, they’re seemingly not interested. But if they were, here are the pros and cons.

Pros: Apple TV would be the best partner for HBO bar none. Their TV department in general outside of maybe the cable shows would flourish on Apple, which is very focused on creating new original shows. Their catalog would improve, Casey Bloys and Apple would likely both help each other continue to make great shows.

Cons: Theatrically it’s unclear what Apple’s plans are. The only movie they’ve made a profit from on that front is F1 so it’s unclear how they would deal with Warner’s films and IP theatrically at this stage.

Other

There’s always a good chance a massive corporation that is not currently in film swoops in and outbids everyone else. The AI bubble has created a massive amount of opportunity and those companies are trying to break in to the film industry. In what would be the worst-case for hollywood, there’s a chance one of those comes in and buys Warner so they own the IP and in essence would be able to make AI projects with those and also be able to make other AI-related media. Facebook, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI would be contenders for this if I had to take a guess.

There’s also a chance that any of these non-OpenAI companies just want in to the film industry in general outside of just AI. Any other massive company that sees major value in owning Warner, like AT&T did. Perhaps Sony wants to make an even bigger mark on the film industry, Warner would be a way of doing that for them as they add to Sony Pictures and even their gaming division.

Everything Warner Bros. Discovery Owns

Here is every major thing that Warner Bros. Discovery owns from IP to divisions.

Divisions/Channels

• Warner Bros. Pictures
• Discovery
• Warner Bros. Television
• Warner Bros. Animation
• Warner Bros. Games
• HBO
• CNN
• New Line Cinema
• DC Studios
• TNT
• Cartoon Network
• Adult Swim
• Food Network
• Animal Planet

IP

• DC
• Harry Potter
• Looney Tunes
• Game of Thrones
• Scooby-Doo
• Mad Max
• Tom and Jerry
• Mortal Kombat

The truth is every single sale will result in major problems. It’s almost likely any sale will result in the losses of jobs. There’s also the matter of cost for the consumer. Any sale will also increase the costs of these streaming service. Warner is one of the biggest film studios so combining with another massive studio would likely reduce the number of films and TV shows made. The only way an acquisition helps out Hollywood is if the company buying really aligns with the interest of theatrical films and great TV shows which has been a staple of what has made Warner Bros. what it is.

If you had to ask me, I would say Apple would be the best option of the ones we know. They seem to be the best equipped to handle HBO and they do seem interested in theatrical and maybe Warner is what pushes them to put all their chips into film theatrically. They would likely make good use of the IP they’d be getting as well.

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