Netflix in exclusive talks to buy HBO

Summary

Netflix has submitted the highest bid to date for Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming assets, according to people familiar with the secretive bidding process. Netflix’s most recent offer, submitted on Thursday, valued the Warner Bros. studio, HBO Max streaming service and related parts of the company at around $28 per share, sources said. Paramount also submitted a new bid on Thursday, closer to $27 per share, one of the sources added. The two offers aren’t apples-to-apples, however, because Paramount has been trying to buy all of Warner Bros. Discovery, including CNN and other cable channels, while Netflix and another bidder, Comcast, have only shown interest in the studio and streaming assets. The mega-media bidding war has intensified in recent days, captivating a wide swath of Hollywood and garnering attention from the Trump White House. Iconic brands like HBO and DC Comics hang in the balance. Representatives for the companies involved have declined to comment. But leaks out of what is supposed to be a confidential process suggest that Netflix now has the pole position. Paramount certainly perceives it that way; the company’s attorneys wrote to Zaslav expressing “grave concerns” about the auction process. Specifically, Paramount’s attorneys charged that WBD has “embarked on a myopic process with a predetermined outcome that favors a single bidder,” meaning Netflix. Analysts said the letter could be a precursor to a hostile-takeover play by Paramount, which has moved aggressively in recent months under new CEO David Ellison’s leadership. Late Thursday, Bloomberg reported that WBD and Netflix have entered exclusive talks. Ellison kickstarted the auction process earlier in the fall by submitting multiple bids to WBD CEO David Zaslav and the company’s board. Analysts at the time predicted that a bidding war would break out, and that’s exactly what has happened, given that famed movie and TV studios rarely come onto the market. Zaslav officially put up the...