Bids for Warner Bros. Discovery are due Thursday

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As Warner Bros. Discovery considers its next steps, the first round of bids are due Thursday for the entertainment giant. And, so far, there's no clear frontrunner.

Paramount, Netflix, and Comcast are all said to be planning to submit offers. Paramount's is the furthest reaching, incorporating both the extensive film and television library under Warner's control, as well as its cable channels, which include CNN, TNT and Turner Broadcasting.

Comcast and Netflix's interests both lie in the company's library and its intellectual properties. Netflix, on Wednesday, reportedly told Warner officials it would release films in theaters, a reversal of a long-standing objection on the company's part.

Netflix is cash rich on the strength of its subscriber base. The company recently increased its full-year 2025 free cash flow forecast to approximately $9 billion. Paramount, run by David Ellison, has the backing of Oracle's Larry Ellison, however. The media company has already submitted three offers for Warner Bros., which has more than doubled the price of Warner stock in the past two months.

Warner, last year, came close to purchasing Paramount, but the two companies could not come to financial terms on the deal.

Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it would entertain offers for the company on Oct. 21, saying it was expanding its strategic review of the company after receiving "unsolicited interest from multiple parties" for both the entirety of the company and Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. recently announced plans to split into two companies, one that would focus on its global TV networks, the other focused on streaming and studios. Work on that separation, which is scheduled to be completed by mid-2026, is continuing as the bidding war goes on – and Warner could choose to continue along that path if it feels the offers are too low after they're received today.

With three bidders, that might seem unlikely, but CEO David Zaslav has been remarkably bullish on the company, despite its flat stock performance before Paramount's initial offer. In September, he predicted HBO Max will be in 150 million homes by next year and called the streaming service undervalued.

"The fact that this is quality — and that’s true across our company, motion picture, TV production and and streaming quality — we all we think that gives us a chance to raise price," he said. "We think we’re way underpriced. We’re going to take our time."