Warner Bros. Discovery CEO’s bidding conflict destroyed the initial confidence of the Ellisons — however do not rely them out just yet
David Zaslav just pulled off one of the greatest media mergers of the century — however that doesn’t imply he’s executed wheeling and dealing.
The wily CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery has bought the media big for $72 billion — more than doubling its worth in a matter of months. He could get even more, relying on whom you speak to, capping one of the more momentous govt comeback tales in recent times.
Before we get into why the cake isn’t quite baked on WBD’s future, let’s take into account what just went down with Zaslav’s mosh-pit-style bidding conflict, how he set some of the greatest media moguls against each other, ramping up the sale price of his company to ranges no one thought doable.
When all this started in September, WBD’s stock was in the toilet, trading at round $12 a share, just above its one-year low of $7.50. That’s when Paramount Skydance noticed worth the place no one did, besides possibly Zaslav; they provided $23.50 — or round $56 billion — for all of WBD, its studio, the HBO Max streaming service, in addition to cable channels CNN, HBO and Discovery.
It was considered a executed deal. Paramount Skydance’s deep-pocketed homeowners, David and Larry Ellison, promised WBD shareholders all money for an asset that was teetering, and a regulatory glide path via the Trump administration given the elder Ellison’s close friendship with President Trump.
Not fairly. Zaslav is a protégé of two of the best CEOs in current historical past, Jack Welch and cable pioneer John Malone. That put him in line to turn out to be CEO of newly created Warner Bros. Discovery, a deal engineered by Malone, fashioned after the AT&T spinoff of Warner Media in 2022.
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Money-losing property
Warner’s property included a major studio that misplaced money, an unprofitable streaming service, and outdated media cable channels like HBO, CNN, TNT and the Food Network. Zaslav was saddled with billions in debt. He took warmth cratering shareholder worth while paying himself hundreds of thousands.
Larry Ellison, chairman and chief technology officer of Oracle Corporation, sits in the Oval Office of the White House as President Donald Trump indicators an govt order, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Washington. AP
What the market and media naysayers didn’t admire is that he was scaling down a bloated operation and improving the Warner studio — it grew to become the first to surpass $4 billion in revenues in 2025. He was also building up his streaming service, lastly deciding on a identify, HBO Max, which is now the industry’s third largest.
To his credit score, David Ellison noticed that potential early on — even as he was in the throes of making an attempt to purchase Paramount from the initially reluctant Redstone household, and then maneuvering via the odd maze of the Trump administration’s regulatory equipment.
He noticed that he might mix CBS with CNN, bail out Paramount’s feeble streaming network with HBO Max, and supplement Paramount’s studio with Warner’s, gaining tons of mental property with some of the most iconic programming in current historical past, such as “The Sopranos,” “Harry Potter” and “Game of Thrones.”
Nearly the second David and Larry swooped in with an initial offer for all of WBD three months in the past, the bigger bidding conflict was on. As the Post first reported, Zas started pitching a sale of some or all of the company to Amazon, Apple and others. In the end, he settled on a bidding contest among Comcast, Paramount Skydance and Netflix. Zas, as he’s identified in media and Wall Street circles, set his price goal at $30 a share and deal contributors scoffed: Who would pay $30 a share for one thing that traded at round $7 just a few months in the past?
Misplaced confidence
The Ellisons appeared notably confident they may underbid since the Trump administration, as we reported, wished WBD in the Ellisons’ palms. Trump and Larry Ellison are pals, Larry being a long time MAGA supporter. Plus the deal appeared the cleanest of all the bidders without a lot overlap to current antitrust worries.
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison speaks during the Bloomberg Screentime convention in Los Angeles on October 9, 2025. AFP by way of Getty Images
Trump was also said to love the thought of the Ellisons controlling CNN, which he considers anti-MAGA. DOJ Antitrust despatched out phrase it didn’t like all those streaming clients — Netflix’s 300 million plus another 100 million of HBO Max — in a single company.
But the bids stored rising. Netflix’s Ted Sarandos was bought on Zaslav’s pitch to supplement his streaming empire with a top-flight studio that can produce namebrand, home-grown content. Now lusting for a deal, Sarandos met with Trump and developed a friendship he and Zaslav consider will mollify the regulatory hurdles. Comcast stored bidding up in addition to its chief, Brian Roberts — despite his fraught relationship with Trump for proudly owning the MAGA-hating MS NOW — tried to easy issues over with big presents to build the new White House ballroom.
The Ellisons not too long ago got here in at $30 a share; Netflix sealed the deal at $30.75.
The Ellisons hate dropping and are planning a counterattack; they may bid even more or go hostile, arguing their all-cash offer is greater than Netfix’s money and stock even if its complete price beats theirs by 75 cents.
How’s that for creating shareholder worth?
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