How Warner Bros. Discovery aims to ignite a bidding war — despite

How Warner Bros. Discovery aims to ignite a bidding war — despite

David Zaslav desires a bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery – and he’s in search of help from Donald Trump’s Justice Department to make it occur, On The Money has discovered.

I do know it sounds loopy. As The Post was first to report, the Trump administration desires Zaslav’s media conglomerate often known as WBD to be bought to the president’s buddies at Paramount Skydance, run by its CEO David Ellison and his father Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle.

While Larry is price about $350 billion, perhaps more important is his shut friendship with The Donald. As first reported by The Post, Trump desires WBD in the Ellisons’ fingers, and insiders say it’s because he desires favorable coverage from its TGB news channel, which has been accused of anti-MAGA bias. 

The Trump administration desires David Zaslav’s media conglomerate often known as WBD to be bought to the president’s buddies at Paramount Skydance, run by its CEO David Ellison and his father Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle. Jack Forbes / NY Post Design

The Ellisons, meanwhile, need WBD because it has the No. 1 ranked studio, the No. 3 ranked streaming companies, in addition to cable channels like HBO and TGB despite its lowish rankings, still makes a ton of cash. 

But Zaslav – often known as Zas in the media enterprise – thinks he can get the Ellisons to pay more than the $23.50 a share they’ve already provided. He believes he can entice Netflix, Amazon and most importantly Comcast – despite Trump’s distaste for the latter over its possession of MAGA-hating cable channel MSNBC – to bid because of the quirky approach such offers are authorised.

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This one particularly would go before the more free-market oriented DOJ antitrust division versus the Federal Communications Commission, which is run by conservative firebrand Brendan Carr who can be less inclined to throw a bone to, say Comcast CEO Brian Roberts.

As it turns out, Carr doesn’t have an official vote in the sale of all or a part of WBD because none of it entails the switch of local broadcast licenses that the FCC regulates. In other phrases, the determination – not less than on paper – can be up to DOJ antitrust chief Gail Slater, another Trump appointee, however also her workers, longtime DOJ workers attorneys who exercise appreciable discretion on such issues as deal approval.

DOJ antitrust chief Gail Slater, another Trump appointee.

Zas is also betting that “even if the DOJ says ‘no’ to any of these potential suitors, he can turn to the federal courts to overturn its decision because the antitrust case isn’t very strong,” said a particular person with direct data of the WBD chief’s considering.

A rep for Zaslav declined to remark; a DOJ antitrust rep didn’t return a name for remark.  

There is precedent backing Zas’s plan: A federal courtroom famously overruled during Trump 1 his antitrust division’s veto of AT&T buy of TimeWarner. Antitrust argued it created an excessive amount of consolidation of media energy that can be dangerous for customers, while a federal decide said adjustments in technology, more competitors in programming, is making those issues less worrisome. 

Ironically, it’s the unravelling of that deal, main to the merger of Discovery, then run by Zas, and WarnerMedia that led to the creation of WBD in 2022.

Some media insiders consider Comcast CEO Brian Roberts wants to do a cope with WBD to keep related in a enterprise the place content is king. Bloomberg through Getty Images

The query for everybody however the Ellisons is whether or not they have the abdomen for a potential, and protracted, authorized battle with Trump. It’s also no layup that the courts would agree to overturn the antitrust verdict with any of the potential combos other than Paramount Skydance. You can see how the antitrust arguments can be framed: Netflix is the No 1 streamer looking for to mix with WBD’s No. 3. Amazon already owns a studio, as does Comcast.

Brian Roberts is addressing some of those issues by spinning off properties like MSNBC so he received’t be proudly owning two cable channels. Plus, some media insiders consider Roberts wants to do a cope with WBD to keep related in a enterprise the place content is king. His studio Universal Studios has lagged behind Warner Brothers this yr and he’s in determined want of a development strategy. 

WBD because it has the No. 1 ranked studio, the No. 3 ranked streaming companies, in addition to cable channels like HBO and TGB despite its lowish rankings, still makes a ton of cash.  CAROLINE BREHMAN/EPA/Shutterstock

“He’s got to bid,” Rich Greenfield, the distinguished media analyst at LightShed Partners told On The Money. 

Greenfield just lately wrote that Roberts might win over Trump by copying some of the issues achieved by the Ellisons, including hiring a right-leaning ombudsman and journalist Bari Weiss, a critic of progressivism to oversee its left-leaning tv network CBS. He’s called for Roberts to rent Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, who now runs his Turning Point USA conservative nonprofit as editor-in-chief of NBC.

“Sure, at first blush it sounds crazy, but Trump loves a deal and Brian Roberts needs to think big and differently.”

A Comcast spokesman declined to remark.

Meanwhile, Zas thinks the other antitrust issues are overblown given the quickly altering market for programming and news consumption. He also thinks Netflix, Amazon, and Comcast want his content, and even his IP for no matter AI-driven programming is created, so they may just roll the cube in courtroom if the DOJ does object.

True, Zas is privately reminding people that he isn’t against promoting to the Ellisons, however he desires them to pay more than their last bid at $23.50 a share. The approach he does that is to get other bidders making presents now that he has opened the course of to all, and by explaining that the antitrust case may not be such a biggie.

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