The news: Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) received second-round acquisition bids on December 1, setting the stage for one of the most consequential media takeover battles in recent memory.

• Netflix, NBCUniversal parent Comcast, and Paramount Skydance all submitted first-round offers two weeks ago, with Paramount attempting a full-company buyout after three earlier bids were rejected as too low.
• Now that WBD CEO David Zaslav is entertaining offers, he is reportedly pushing for something closer to $30 per share—well above Paramount’s initial mid-$20 range—and any improved offer could trigger exclusive negotiations as early as this week.
• Comcast is preparing a second-round offer of roughly $27 to $28 per share for WBD’s studio and streaming divisions (valuing the carve-out at $67 to $69 billion), reports The New York Post, topping Paramount’s $25-per-share proposal.

Zooming out: Political tensions are now shaping the contest.

• Senior White House officials have raised new antitrust concerns about Netflix buying WBD’s studio and HBO Max assets, warning it could give Netflix excessive leverage in Hollywood. The streaming giant, meanwhile, argues it has the cleanest regulatory path because it owns no broadcast assets.
• Comcast faces its own political roadblocks. President Trump has been openly hostile to NBCUniversal and could pressure regulators to block any Comcast bid.
• Paramount Skydance—the Trump administration’s preferred bidder—remains backed by deep Ellison family financing and political goodwill.

WBD’s situation is unusually volatile:

• Its shares jumped 29%—from $12.54 to $16.17—when takeover speculation first emerged. But a $30-per-share sale would imply a takeover premium of roughly 139% over its pre-rumor valuation, far above the 20% to 25% premiums typical in media deals.
• The spread reflects WBD’s weakened state under Zaslav due to heavy debt, declining stock performance, DC Universe misfires, and confusion around the HBO Max rebrand.

Why it matters: WBD’s price volatility reflects how badly each bidder needs its content, especially as streaming subscription churn keeps creeping upwards; HBO Max's premium content would be valuable to all bidders.

• Netflix wants library scale and a fortified theatrical pipeline.
• Comcast views HBO Max’s 125.5 million global subscribers and Warner’s deep content catalog as essential to fixing Peacock’s slow growth and NBC’s ratings erosion.
• Paramount Skydance sees WBD as a path to survival after the Paramount merger, backed by a White House eager to support its bid.

Key takeaway for marketers: This bidding war is a referendum on where premium video, theatrical distribution, and studio-driven IP are heading. Whoever wins will reshape how Hollywood’s biggest franchises reach audiences—and how advertisers buy against them.

A Netflix–WBD merger could consolidate unmatched subscription scale; a Comcast deal could create a unified broadcast-plus-streaming engine; and a Paramount Skydance victory would fuse two legacy studios under aggressive cost discipline.

For marketers, the outcome will influence everything from premium CTV inventory to theatrical-streaming windows in 2026 and beyond.