Previously planned company separation and proposed sale to Paramount Skydance (2025–present)
On July 18, 2024, Financial Times reported that Zaslav and WBD executives had been discussing the possibility of breaking up the company to insulate the unprofitable linear television networks from the more profitable studio and direct-to-consumer businesses.[119][120] On December 12, 2024, WBD announced plans to reorganize. These businesses would be reorganized into two units: Streaming & Studios would include Warner Bros., HBO, HBO Max, and Global Linear Networks. Zaslav stated that the new structure would enable greater flexibility and "potential future strategic opportunities".[121]
On May 8, 2025, CNBC's David Faber reported that WBD was "moving towards" the possibility of divesting its Global Linear Networks division as an independent company, following NBCUniversal's plan to spin off most of its cable networks as a new public company controlled by Comcast shareholders known as Versant.[122][123] Plans were officially announced on June 9, 2025. WBD announced on July 28 that the two companies would be known as Warner Bros. and Discovery Global respectively.[124][125][126][127]
Warner Bros. was to include the Warner Bros. film, television, and video game studios, DC Studios, DC Entertainment, Cartoon Network Studios, HBO and HBO Max, and TCM. Discovery Global was to be led by current WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels, and include assets such as WBD's linear television brands and Discovery+ and its content library would remain with Warner Bros. Television Group, while Warner Bros. International Television Production would go to Discovery Global. Sports rights would be divided between the two companies. TNT Sports' US assets would go to Discovery Global, and TNT Sports in the United Kingdom and Ireland to Warner Bros. The transactions were expected to complete in mid-2026; the split was structured to be tax-free; Discovery Global was to assume Warner Bros.' debt.[128][129][130][126] On September 10, 2025, Zaslav stated that the split was on track for completion by April 2026.[131]
On September 11, 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported that David Ellison's Paramount Skydance was exploring a bid to acquire the entirety of Warner Bros. Discovery; the company had been formed via the acquisition of Paramount Global by Skydance Media.[132][133] Such an acquisition would integrate overlapping assets between the two companies, including two of the five major film studios (Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures), streaming services HBO Max and Paramount+, TNT Sports and CBS Sports (which collaborated on properties such as the NCAA men's basketball tournament), and CNN and CBS News.[134][135]
Robert Fishman of MoffettNathanson believed that Paramount Skydance was pursuing a strategy of consolidating streaming and studio businesses to take advantage of "a period of industry-wide instability", and that preempting the split by bidding for the entirety of WBD would prevent competitors from cherry-picking the "attractive" assets of the post-split Warner Bros. company.[137][139] While such an acquisition would not be subject to FCC scrutiny, unlike the Paramount acquisition, the sale has faced the possibility of antitrust issues due to its horizontal integration of two legacy media conglomerates and film studios; such a merger would resemble the bigger Disney acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019.[140][135] Senator Elizabeth Warren criticized the prospective deal as a "dangerous concentration of power".[141]
On September 19, Faber reported that Paramount Skydance's bid could be an all-cash offer of approximately $22 to 24 per-share.[142][143] The previous day, Puck had reported that Netflix was exploring a potential bid.[144][145][146]
On October 2, CNBC speculated that Comcast could be the biggest wild card for the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery's assets.[147] However, they questioned whether it would make sense for Comcast to counter Paramount Skydance's bid, as Comcast was in the process of pushing its own cable assets into Versant.[147] Comcast would also face more regulatory hurdles than Paramount Skydance, due to its contentious relationship with president Donald Trump.[148][149][146]
On October 11, Bloomberg News reported that WBD had rejected Paramount Skydance's proposed offer of $20-a-share.[150] According to reports, Zaslav wants around $30-a-share, and believes that he could unlock greater value by selling Warner Bros. once it splits from Discovery in 2026, given the likelihood that Warner Bros. could spark a bidding war.[150][147] In an October 14 interview, Apple's Eddy Cue dismissed speculation that his company was interested in acquiring Warner Bros.[151][152] Earlier on October 8, 2025, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters similarly indicated that a bid from his company was unlikely. He said, "we come from a deep heritage of being builders rather than buyers".[153] On October 23 and 24, Sony Group
In October, Paramount Skydance reportedly made three failed bids, at $19, $22 and $23.50 per share.[155] On October 21, WBD announced that it had begun to review several "unsolicited" offers.[156] On October 27, Bloomberg News reported that if a Paramount Skydance deal was successful, Ellison would retain WBD's creative teams and most of its assets, including the cable networks.[157][158] Previous speculation that he was planning to immediately divest WBD's cable networks, along with Paramount Skydance's own cable networks was not supported.[159] Bloomberg also reported that Ellison intended to merge HBO Max with Paramount+.[158] Ellison suggested that Zaslav might retain his position as co-CEO and that he would be personally compensated with $500 million upon accepting the offer of sale.[160]
On October 31, Netflix was reported to be actively exploring a bid for WBD's studio and streaming assets; the company stressed that it remains “predominantly focused on growing organically”, and was not interested in WBD's legacy linear television businesses.[161]
On November 6, 2025, it was reported that Comcast contracted Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley about a possible takeover of WBD's studio and streaming assets.[162] On November 20, Paramount Skydance, Netflix, and Comcast each officially submitted their bids, with the former bidding for the entirety of WBD and the latter two bidding for its studio and streaming assets.[163] According to CNBC, David Zaslav will announce whether to split the company in two or sell off the whole company to one of the potential buyers before the end of the year.[164]
By December 2, 2025, Comcast had submitted a bid that would merge WBD with its NBCUniversal unit, while Netflix submitted a mostly cash offer. Under Comcast’s proposal, Comcast would take control of the combined entity and Warner Bros. shareholders would receive a mix of cash and stock. Paramount also submitted a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, a 100% cash offer backed by debt financing from Apollo and Middle Eastern sovereign-wealth funds.[165]
On December 4, 2025, Paramount accused Warner Bros. Discovery of orchestrating an unfair bidding process that favors Netflix.[166] Netflix won the bidding war later that day and began exclusive deal talks.[167] On December 5, Netflix announced its offer to buy the Warner Bros. streaming and studios company for $72 billion, intending to close in the third quarter, valuing WBD at $82.7 billion.[168][169]
The proposed acquisition garnered intense antitrust scrutiny, with regulators in the United States and abroad evaluating whether the merger would substantially reduce competition in the entertainment and streaming markets. Critics argued the deal could give Netflix overwhelming control over major content libraries, limit consumer choice, and threaten theatrical and distribution diversity.[170][171] At the same time, Writers Guild of America (WGA) publicly called for the merger to be blocked — warning that combining the world’s largest streaming company with one of Hollywood’s oldest studios would concentrate power, endanger jobs, lower wages, and stifle creative competition.[172]
On December 8, 2025, Paramount Skydance launched a hostile all-cash bid of US$108.4 billion to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. The offer — at US$30 per share — was positioned as a superior alternative to a competing purchase proposal from Netflix.[173][174] Paramount Skydance argued that its bid provided greater value to shareholders by including Warner Bros. Discovery's full studio, streaming, cable-network operations, content library, and Warner Bros. share in both The CW and Philo, unlike the Netflix deal which excluded the linear networks.[175] On December 17, WBD told its shareholders to reject Paramount's bid, instead proceeding with the Netflix acquisition.[176]
On February 5, 2026, David Ellison wrote an open letter to the UK creative community committing to content investment, theatrical windows, and preserving HBO, as Paramount continues its pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). On the Netflix deal, Ellison said “In stark contrast to Netflix’s path, this proposed combination is intended to strengthen competition by creating a more capable and effective rival to the dominant platforms.”[177]
On February 10, 2026, Paramount Skydance amended its Warner Bros. Discovery bid by offering a 25-cent per share "ticking fee" that would equal about $650 million in cash each quarter the deal fails to close after this year, and agreed to cover the breakup fee WBD would owe Netflix if it walked away. Paramount also added measures confirming that it would backstop Warner Bros.' planned debt exchange, eliminating the risk of a potential $1.5 billion fee owed to bondholders, and would grant WBD the same interim operating flexibility it negotiated with Netflix. It added that it is in talks with antitrust regulators in the U.S., the European Union, and the UK.[178]
On February 11, 2026, activist investor and Warner Bros. Discovery shareholder Ancora Alternatives LLC threatened to vote 'no' on the Netflix deal, vote 'yes' on the Paramount deal, and launch its own proxy fight if the WBD board does not engage with Paramount.[179]
On February 15, 2026, Bloomberg reported that Warner Bros. Discovery was considering reopening sale talks with Paramount Skydance.[180] On February 26, 2026, Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed that it considered Paramount's updated bid to be superior to Netflix's current offer, triggering a four-business-day period during which Netflix could improve its offer.[181] Netflix subsequently declined to increase its bid, stating that the deal was "no longer financially attractive."[182]
On February 27, 2026, Paramount Skydance confirmed its deal to acquire all of Warner Bros. Discovery for $110 billion. The deal is expected to be closed by September 30, 2026 at the earliest.[183]
