Comcast has hired Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, Deadline has confirmed, to explore a bid for Warner Bros. as the sale process around Warner Bros. Discovery heats up.
The company, parent of Sky in the U.k., is also in talks to acquire the broadcasting business of ITV, according to news reports.
Last week, Netflix retained investment bank Moelis & Co. to evaluate a potential offer for Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming and studios business. WBD last month announced it was exploring strategic alternatives after receiving expressions of interest from multiple parties to buy all or part of the company. WBD had been set to split in half next year, separating studios and streaming from linear television.
David Ellison’s newly merged Paramount Skydance has offered to buy the entire company in three escalating proposals that pushed WBD to open up the process. Netflix and Comcast as well as Amazon MGM are all eyeing the assets. Warner is open to a sale or all or parts of its business and CEO David Zasvlav said today that it has “an active process underway” exploring a sale, which the company would ideally like to have some clarity on by year end, or a split, which would happen by mid-2026.
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The media giant set up a data room where interested parties that sign confidentiality agreements can examine its books.
Reuters first reported on Comcast’s bankers. The company itself is set to spinoff of its linear cable networks into a separate company called Versant, a process that should be completed early next year.
Bloomberg was first out with the talks for ITV’s broadcasting, talks which do not include ITV Studios. The UK company earlier today provided its latest financial update including additional cost savings at its Media & Entertainment division, which houses its linear networks and streamer ITVX.
A rep for Comcast declined to comment on the WBD or ITV reports.
Comcast acquired Sky in 2018 in a deal worth $40 billion.
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