米べいワーナー・ブラザース・ディスカバリー、全社ぜんしゃ売却ばいきゃくを含ふくむ戦略的せんりゃくてき選択肢せんたくしを本格ほんかく検討けんとう――複数ふくすう企業きぎょうによる買収ばいしゅう提案ていあんを受うけて

Major American media company Warner Bros. Discovery WBD announced on the 21st that it has received acquisition proposals from multiple companies and has begun considering strategic options, including the possible sale of the entire company.

WBD is also known as the parent company of CNN.

According to the companys announcement, as a result of the board of directors review of various options, it was indicated that in the future, the sale of the entire company, a split into two companies as previously planned, or other possibilities could very well arise.

Paramount and Skydance in the U.S. have proposed to acquire the entire WBD before it is split up, and it seems that the behind-the-scenes bidding war is becoming increasingly intense.

According to reports, WBDs board of directors rejected Paramounts initial proposal, and both companies consider the terms presented by Paramounts new CEO, David Ellison, to be too low.

Paramount declined to comment, but according to people familiar with the matter, Mr. Ellison is still increasing pressure on the negotiations.

On the other hand, David Zaslav, the CEO of WBD, has previously promoted the split of the company into two publicly traded entities: Warner Bros., which owns the film studio and the streaming service HBO Max, and Discovery Global, which includes cable television channels such as CNN.

This split is evaluated as significantly increasing the companys value.

Although WBD still leaves the possibility of a split open, this announcement indicates that other options are becoming more realistic.

Furthermore, according to sources, Comcast has also shown strong interest in WBDs assets, but Comcast has not commented.

According to Wall Street analysts, Comcast and Netflix are interested in WBDs streaming business and studio division, mainly because of the value of the well-known brands and shows owned by WBD.

Since WBD is showing a willingness to accept acquisition proposals, companies wishing to acquire it are likely to consider conducting due diligence and making bids at this point, rather than waiting for the spin-off scheduled for next year.