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One of the world's biggest media companies has now revealed that it's putting itself up for sale, following on from news earlier this week that one of it's streaming platforms has received a stark price increase.
Mergers are becoming increasingly common in the current media landscape, and in recent years we have seen blockbuster acquisitions of Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard, and AT&T.
While some have raised concerns regarding monopolies and anti-competitive practices, many of these are allowed to go ahead and often make significant amounts of money for the selling parties and any associated shareholders.
Just four years after Discovery Inc. merged with Warner Bros. and AT&T, however, the company has put itself up for sale again, and could welcome another major merger that would shock the industry.
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As reported by NBC News, a press release from Warner Bros. Discovery announced "a review of strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value," and revealed that it had received "unsolicited interest" from "multiple parties for both the entire company and Warner Bros." on its own.
Shares reportedly jumped up by 10 percent following this news as the company has officially announced its intention to shop itself around, and it could have concerning implications for a number of its major properties.
Right now, a number of the biggest streaming services and news outlets fall under the Warner Bros. Discovery umbrella, including HBO Max, Discovery+, and CNN.
These include the rights to countless popular TV shows and franchises, alongside a number of sporting rights including the Premier League, French Open, and even the Olympics.
Additionally, Warner Bros. has had an incredibly successful year in Hollywood both commercially and critically, with releases such as Sinners, One Battle After Another, Weapons, F1, and A Minecraft Movie, with the first two expected to rack up attention in the awards circuit.
Intriguingly, this news also came just after the company announced immediate price increases to every single one of its payment plans for HBO Max, leaving many subscribers enraged and willing to cancel.
It would certainly take a sizeable figure for any company to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in its entirety though, as the current market value sits at more than $45 billion, and you'd imagine that it'd stretch higher than that considering the 2021 merger was made for $43 million, albeit with the caveat of considerable debt.
It's unclear quite how much the Warner Bros. arm could command on its own though if it was sold off independently, especially with it still holding the rights to notable franchises such as Harry Potter and DC Comics.
