{"id":122994,"date":"2025-11-07T14:05:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T14:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/122994\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T14:05:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T14:05:08","slug":"warner-bros-discovery-ceo-david-zaslav-loving-the-energy-among-bidders-for-his-media-empire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/122994\/","title":{"rendered":"Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav loving the ‘energy’ among bidders for his media empire"},"content":{"rendered":"

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav believes there\u2019s \u201ca lot of big [male] energy\u201d among potential bidders for his media empire<\/a> \u2013 enough that he still believes he can sell it for as much as $70 billion, or around $30 a share, On The Money has learned.<\/p>\n

We are, of course, a family newspaper, hence the parenthetical on the quote. Plus this could be just wishful thinking. Keep in mind, any number with a \u201c3\u201d in front of it would be a stiff premium to the $23.50 a share offer by Paramount Skydance\u2019s David Ellison<\/a>. Paramount, meanwhile, is worth just $56 billion, or around $23 a share. <\/p>\n

But Zas, as he is known in media circles, is boasting of the interest he\u2019s getting for WBD, with its top ranked studio, No. 3 streaming service, HBO and CNN, not to mention the IP that a buyer would own of shows like \u201cHarry Potter\u201d and \u201cThe Sopranos\u201d that can be retrofitted in the age of AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IllustrationWBD CEO David Zaslavwas honored by the Simon Wiesenthal Foundation as he seeks to sell his media empire. Steven Spielberg, left, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Oprah Winfery and David Geffen. Jack Forbes \/ NY Post Design<\/p>\n

The \u201cenergy\u201d was on full display last Thursday when Zaslav was honored by the Simon Wiesenthal Foundation, receiving its humanitarian award for his work combating antisemitism. Attendees included Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Oprah to name a few.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also spotted were players eying a bid for WBD. Among them: David Ellison, the CEO of Paramount Skydance along with Makan Delrahim, his top lawyer and former Trump DOJ antitrust chief<\/a> who will be navigating the DC regulatory shoals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\tMore From\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCharles Gasparino<\/p>\n

Likewise in attendance: Ted Sarandos of Netflix, which as we first reported, is interested in WBD\u2019s streaming service and its studio<\/a> as a way not to have to build one of its own.<\/p>\n

Zas gave an impassioned speech about his family (he met his future wife at shul) and how many of them perished during the holocaust in Poland, just around the time of the Warsaw uprising. He then gave a tribute to CNN reporters for telling \u201cstories\u201d that matter.<\/p>\n

\"StevenSteven Spielberg, Zaslav and Jeffrey Katzenberg at last week\u2019s event at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Beverly Hills. Getty Images for Simon Wiesenthal Center<\/p>\n

The sale of WBD infused much of the table chatter before and after the tributes, and the way Zas is talking, the \u201cmale energy\u201d is still going strong. As we first reported, Brian Roberts of Comcast is interested, seemingly unfazed, at least for now, by the animus he faces from the Trump White House for operating the MAGA-hating cable channel MSNBC.<\/p>\n

Roberts is trying to cozy up to Trump; he is taking heat from his left-wing viewers for a multi-million-dollar donation to fund Trump\u2019s new White House ballroom. As his people are quick to point out, Comcast is now spinning MSNBC and the rest of its cable properties into a new company.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCharlie Gasparino has his finger on the pulse of where business, politics and finance meet\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up to receive On The Money by Charlie Gasparino in your inbox every Thursday.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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Zas also thinks Apple and Amazon could buy parts of WBD.<\/p>\n

That brings us to David Ellison, the movie producer son of mega billionaire and Trump pal, Larry Ellison. David, just 42 years old, is looking to build maybe the biggest media empire in the world. Since his takeover of Paramount, he has been squeezing the lefty-bias out of the company, particularly at CBS. Journalist Bari Weiss is now in charge<\/a> and exit visas are being issued to talent who don\u2019t want to get with the new program.<\/p>\n

Yes, The Donald would prefer Paramount Skydance buying every media company in existence. But Zas believes there are people at DOJ antitrust \u2013 non-political staffers who have a big say in regulatory approval \u2013 who might well greenlight even Comcast winning a bidding war<\/a> because without the cable properties it\u2019s difficult to make a sound antitrust case that can withstand a court challenge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All of which Zas hopes will pressure Ellison \u2014 who is best suited to buy WBD given the bank of his old man and the relationship with Trump \u2014 to increase his bid substantially. Or as one media executive put it: Zas \u201cstill thinks the final bid will have a \u20183\u2019 in it. He loves the certain type of energy in the room.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav believes there\u2019s \u201ca lot of big [male] energy\u201d among potential bidders for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122995,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[138,11948,16650,156,1073,86071,111,139,69,72420,421,437,3204],"class_list":{"0":"post-122994","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-david-ellison","10":"tag-david-zaslav","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-media","13":"tag-mergers-acquisitions","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz","17":"tag-on-the-money","18":"tag-paramount","19":"tag-tv","20":"tag-warner-bros-discovery"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}