News

Warner Bros. Discovery Evaluates Possible Sale of Company

Entertainment conglomerate Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed on Tuesday that it is evaluating the possible acquisition of the whole company, or separate acquisitions for its Warner Bros. and Discovery Global businesses, as part of "a review of strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value" initiated by the company's Board of Directors. The announcement noted that Warner Bros. Discovery has received "unsolicited interest" from multiple parties regarding a possible acquisition of the entire company or the Warner Bros. business. Warner Bros. Discovery is also leaving open the possibility of "an alternative separation structure that would enable a merger of Warner Bros. and spin-off of Discovery Global to our shareholders."

Warner Bros. Discovery has no deadline or timetable for the completion of its strategic alternatives review, and does not assure that the review will result in a final sale of the company. The company intends to make no further announcements regarding the review until the company's board approves a transaction or deems further disclosure necessary.

The Wall Street Journal reported on September 12 that the newly formed entertainment conglomerate Paramount Skydance was evaluating the possibility of acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery. Bloomberg reported on October 11 that Warner Bros. Discovery had rejected an offer from Paramount Skydance for US$20 per share, with a report from the New York Post on October 15 claiming that Warner Bros. Discovery president and CEO David Zaslav wanting a sale price of US$30 per share.

Warner Bros. Discovery announced its intent to split its company into two separate publicly traded companies on June 9, later naming these companies as Warner Bros. and Discovery Global. Warner Bros. will own Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, DC Studios, HBO, HBO Max,, and Warner Bros. Gaming Studios. Discovery Global will own CNN, TNT Sports in the U.S., and Discovery. The split is planned to occur in mid-2026.

Warner Bros. Discovery was formed after AT&T spun off its WarnerMedia business and it merged with Discovery, a process that began in 2021 and completed the following year. Some of the anime industry-related assets involved in the company's formation included Cartoon Network (with the Toonami and Adult Swim programming blocks), Boomerang, HBO Max, VRV, and other channels and services that have offered anime in their programming. On the Discovery side, the Discovery Family channel (formerly known as The Hub) featured programming with some Japanese roots such as Transformers, Pac-Man, and Deltora Quest.

Warner Bros. Discovery also owns the production company Warner Bros. Japan, which launched in 2011. Warner Bros. Japan is involved in several anime properties and has produced over 80 anime titles, including Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Record of Ragnarok, and SPY x FAMILY. Warner Bros. Japan and its parent company also handle overseas and domestic live-action film productions of Japanese properties such as Godzilla, Rurouni Kenshin, Gintama, and Death Note. As of last year, Warner Bros. Japan plans to increase its annual output from five to 10 anime titles to over 10.

The HBO Max streaming service offers GKIDS' "entire Studio Ghibli film library." At launch, Crunchyroll (previously part of WarnerMedia), Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, and Rooster Teeth also offered content through the service. The service announced an increase in the price of its subscription plans on Tuesday, marking the third price increase since launch. (HBO Max raised its subscription prices in February 2023 and June 2024.)

Box Canyon Productions, an independent company owned by Rooster Teeth co-founder Burnie Burns, acquired the Rooster Teeth (RWBY, gen:LOCK) brand from Warner Bros. Discovery this past February. The acquisition did not include RWBY, nor some properties whose rights were already assigned to their creators last year. Viz Media announced in July 2024 that it had acquired the RWBY series. Viz Media owns the rights for future distribution, production, licensing, and consumer products. The company is exploring the production of new chapters in the series.

Sources: Warner Bros. Discovery, Cartoon Brew (Jamie Lang)