{"id":1236406352,"date":"2025-10-21T14:32:49","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T21:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/?p=1236406352"},"modified":"2025-10-21T14:54:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T21:54:14","slug":"netflixs-bidding-warner-bros-discovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/business\/business-news\/netflixs-bidding-warner-bros-discovery-1236406352\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix&#8217;s Ted Sarandos Reacts to Warner Bros.&#8217; &#8220;For Sale&#8221; Sign, Mostly Deflects the Topic"},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! -->\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p\n\t\tclass=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \"\n>\n\tNetflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos says the streaming giant has little interest, if at all, in bidding for Warner Bros. Discovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p\n\t\tclass=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \"\n>\n\t&#8220;Nothing is a must for us to meet our goals that we have for this business,\u201d he said during an after-market analyst call after Netflix unveiled its third quarter financial results, without mentioning WBD directly. The executive&#8217;s comments came on the same day the rival major studio&#8217;s board of directors said they had received \u201c<a  data-id=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/business\/business-news\/warner-bros-discovery-for-sale-1236406132\/\"  data-type=\"link\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/business\/business-news\/warner-bros-discovery-for-sale-1236406132\/\"  >unsolicited interest<\/a>\u201d from \u201cmultiple parties\u201d as Hollywood anticipates another round of large-scale media industry consolidation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p\n\t\tclass=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \"\n>\n\tSarandos reiterated that organic growth at Netflix was preferred over big acquisitions. &#8220;When it comes to M&amp;A opportunities, we look at them, and we look at all of them, and we apply the same framework and lens that we look at when we look to invest. Is it a big opportunity? Is there additional value in ownership,&#8221; he told analysts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p\n\t\tclass=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \"\n>\n\t&#8220;We&#8217;re predominantly focused on growing organically, investing aggressively and responsibly into the growth and returning access cash flow to shareholders,&#8221; he added. Peters also downplayed any strategy to grow through major acquisitions after earlier industry consolidation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p\n\t\tclass=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \"\n>\n\t&#8220;None of those mergers were a fundamental shift in the competitive landscape, and we have also seen a wide range of outcomes from such mergers. So watching some of our competitors potentially get bigger via M&amp;A does not change in and of itself, at least our view of the competitive landscape,&#8221; Peters added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p\n\t\tclass=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \"\n>\n\tAs reports point to potential bidding interest in WBD by David Ellison\u2019s Paramount Skydance, Comcast and Netflix have also figured in Wall Street chatter around a possible play for a major studio after it confirmed it had launched \u201ca review of strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p\n\t\tclass=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \"\n>\n\tThose strategic options are thought to include continuing with the previously announced plan to split into two companies, Warner Bros. and Discovery Global, a \u201ctransaction for the entire company\u201d or \u201cseparate transactions for its Warner Bros. and\/or Discovery Global&nbsp;businesses,\u201d WBD said earlier on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p\n\t\tclass=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \"\n>\n\tCNBC on Tuesday <a  rel=\"nofollow\"  data-id=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/10\/21\/wbd-sale-warner-bros-media.html\"  data-type=\"link\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/10\/21\/wbd-sale-warner-bros-media.html\"  target=\"_blank\"  >reported <\/a>Warners<a  rel=\"nofollow\"  data-id=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/10\/21\/wbd-sale-warner-bros-media.html\"  data-type=\"link\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/10\/21\/wbd-sale-warner-bros-media.html\"  target=\"_blank\"  > <\/a>had rejected an initial bid from Paramount Skydance, opening the way for rival bids from Netflix and Comcast. CNBC added Netflix had no interest in WBD\u2019s legacy media assets, while also potentially looking to keep the Warner Bros. studio and streaming businesses away from a Hollywood rival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p\n\t\tclass=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \"\n>\n\t&#8220;We&#8217;ve been very clear in the past that we have no interest in owning legacy media networks, so there is no change there. But in general, we believe that we can be and we will be choosy,&#8221; Sarandos added in comments to analysts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The co-CEO adds on an earnings call with analysts, &#8220;Nothing is a must for us to meet our goals that we have for this business.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1223308,"featured_media":1236404954,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"override_post_title":"","override_post_excerpt":"","authors":[],"contributors":[],"styled_by":[],"_image_credit":"","_wp_attachment_image_alt":"","pmc_selected_wwd_video_media":"","pmc_top_video_source":"","pmc_top_video_duration":"","wwd_top_video_source":"","wwd_top_video_duration":"","pmc_selected_featured_media":"","pmc_selected_video_media":"","pmc_selected_variety_video_media":"","variety_top_video_source":"","variety_top_video_duration":"","pmc_featured_media_has_alt_text":true,"_pmc_featured_animated_media_id":0,"_pmc_featured_video_override_data":"","_pmc_featured_video_override_url":"","_pmc_featured_video_response_data":"","pmc-gallery-linked-gallery":{},"pmc_list_item_description":"","primary_category":"","primary_vertical":"","_mt_pmc_exclude_from_seo":"","_pmc_opengraph_title":"","_pmc_opengraph_description":"","categories":64,"subcategories":65850,"thr-review-summary-credits":"","thr-full-credit":"","thr-review-mpaa-rating":"","thr-review-running-time":"","_synopsis":"","_air_date":"00-00-00","pmc-imdb-id":"","pmc-review-type":"","pmc-review-rating":"","pmc-review-rating-out-of":"","pmc-review-snippet":"","pmc-review-title":"","pmc-review-canonical-link":"","pmc-theatrical-release-date":0,"pmc-director":"","pmc-review-image_attachment_id":0,"thr_post_headlines":"The co-CEO adds on an earnings call with analysts, \"Nothing is a must for us to meet our goals that we have for this business.\"","_variety-sub-heading":"","mt_seo_title":"Netflix's Ted Sarandos Reacts to Warner Bros.' \"For Sale\" Sign","mt_seo_description":"His comments came on the same day WBD, led by CEO David Zaslav, signaled it was up for sale as its board of directors considers \u201cstrategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value.\u201d","mt_pmc_exclude_from_seo":"off","_pmc_canonical_override":"","instant_articles_should_submit_post":false,"_sailthru_selected_alerts":[],"_sailthru_send_override":false,"_sailthru_alert_subject":"","_sailthru_breaking_news_meta_data":[],"experimental_features_inline_styles":"","linked_video_id":"","pmc_hubs_hide_header":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-10-21T21:32:56Z","apple_news_api_id":"ced7b9d2-99d2-4955-b4be-d3044ab5ecdd","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-10-21T21:45:35Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAw==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Azte50pnSSVW0vtMESrXs3Q","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_pmc_automated_related_links":{"settings":{"module_name":"Related","hide_box":0},"data":[{"url":"","id":"","title":"","automated":true},{"url":"","id":"","title":"","automated":true}]},"overlay_text_placement":[],"overlay_text_one":[],"overlay_text_two":[],"pmc-gallery":[],"kicker_meta_block_field":[],"_pmc_kicker":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[64,65850],"tags":[91855,63610],"post_format":[],"_post-options":[],"pmc_ads_suppression":[],"hashtags":[],"ep_custom_result":[],"editorial":[],"coauthors":[72098],"class_list":["post-1236406352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-business-news","tag-business-news","tag-netflix"],"apple_news_notices":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/hollywoodreporter.com\/business\/business-news\/netflixs-bidding-warner-bros-discovery-1236406352\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Netflix&#8217;s Ted Sarandos Reacts to Warner Bros.&#8217; 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