Warner Bros. Discovery Receives Binding Bids from Netflix, Others

Warner Bros. Discovery received a second round of binding bids on Monday, including a mostly cash offer from Netflix, as the media conglomerate's auction process advances toward a potential conclusion in the coming days or weeks.

Sources familiar with the matter indicated that investment bankers for Netflix, Comcast and Paramount Skydance worked over the extended Thanksgiving weekend to refine their proposals for all or portions of the company. The bids, submitted by the December 1 deadline following preliminary nonbinding offers last month, position the Warner Bros. Discovery board to approve a transaction swiftly if the terms align with its objectives. However, the company has not characterized these submissions as final, leaving room for additional rounds if necessary.

Netflix's proposal, which reportedly involves securing a bridge loan in the tens of billions of dollars, targets the studio and streaming assets, specifically the Warner Bros. film division and HBO Max service. Comcast has expressed similar interest in those segments, according to the sources. Paramount Skydance, fresh from its $8.4 billion merger with Paramount Global, has pursued bids for the entire company,...