Netflix, Comcast and Paramount Make Bids for Warner Bros

Summary

Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast:

"Netflix, Comcast and Paramount Make Bids for Warner Bros"

Date: November 21, 2025
Hosts: Scarlet Fu, Paul Sweeney
Featured Guests: Geetha Ranganathan (Bloomberg Intelligence, Media Analyst), Beth Cowett (Bloomberg Opinion Columnist), Jodi Laurie (Credit Analyst), Calvin Butler (CEO, Exelon)

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Episode Overview

This episode covers several timely topics in business and finance, focusing chiefly on the high-stakes bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery, evolving corporate strategies in workforce management with a look at Walmart's transformation, consumer travel trends amid inflation, and the crucial role of utilities in powering the AI revolution. The hosts and expert guests bring Bloomberg Intelligence's analysis to bear on each, providing company-level insights and implications for the broader market.

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1. Warner Bros. Discovery: Bidding War Breakdown

Segment Start: [02:04]

Key Discussions:

• Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has received first-round, non-binding bids from Paramount-Skydance (for the whole company), and Netflix and Comcast (for studio and streaming assets only).
• The bids’ enterprise value is estimated at over $90 billion.
• Paramount-Skydance’s offer per share is in the $25–$27 range, while WBD CEO David Zaslav is reportedly seeking over $30/share.

Notable Insights:

• The process will be drawn-out, with additional bid rounds expected.
• A "Plan B" exists for WBD: splitting into TV networks and streaming/studio businesses, which may prove beneficial regardless of M&A outcomes.
• Major value is seen in WBD's studio and streaming, with combined valuations of $25–$28/share for those alone.
• Potential merger synergies (with, for example, Paramount) could reach $4-5 billion, boosting attractiveness.

Notable Quotes:

• Geetha Ranganathan:

  “Next steps, Paul, is that these were just first round bids. They are non-binding bids… This is going to be a very long drawn process. So we're going to have multiple rounds.” [02:48]

• Geetha Ranganathan:

  “David Zaslav has publicly said that he wants something north of $30 per share. So this is going to play out for quite a while, I think.” [03:29]

• Geetha Ranganathan:

  “If nothing materializes from all of these bids… they are still on track to separate their businesses. And who knows, maybe that would be the better path for them going forward.” [04:34]

• Geetha Ranganathan:

  “If you look at combining...Warner Bros. Discovery with all of Paramount... we’re looking at about $4 to $5 billion in synergies, which then adds to the deal value.” [05:28]

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2. Walmart: Workforce Investment as Strategic Shift

Segment Start: [07:30]

Key Discussions:

• Walmart’s decade-long effort, guided by outgoing CEO Doug McMillon, to invest $2.7 billion in its workforce—raising wages, increasing training, and establishing career paths.
• Initial investor skepticism: stock suffered on announcement, but results have vindicated the strategy (market cap has tripled; 400%+ shareholder returns in a decade).
• Walmart’s approach to AI: focus on reskilling and growing the workforce, rather than mass layoffs characteristic of other large employers.
• Employee retention is up 10% since 2015, and 75% of management roles are filled internally.

Notable Quotes:

• Beth Cowett:

  “It was pay increases, but more than anything else, it was creating not low paying jobs, but a career… that shifted the whole culture of the company.” [09:37]

• Beth Cowett:

  “Walmart’s taken a very different approach… It has not used AI to have some of these mass layoffs… It said AI will change every job. It knows that. But it is trying to get every worker through to the other side.” [10:17]

• Beth Cowett:

  “When they announced it...the company lost tremendous value...And now...the market cap has tripled. The stock has returned more than 400%. So they really took a gamble on this and stuck with it.” [11:20]

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3. Consumer Spending & Travel Trends

Segment Start: [15:27]

Key Discussions:

• Survey results: Most consumers are keeping vacation/travel budgets steady but are more reluctant to exceed those budgets, given heightened inflation risk.
• Even as out-of-home spending (e.g., eating out) is expected to rise, it reflects not just higher demand, but increased costs.
• Fewer people plan to splurge if costs exceed budgets; more are looking into free or low-cost options (e.g. museums, domestic travel).
• Americans traveling to Canada has increased, possibly linked to the upcoming World Cup, while Canadian travel to the U.S. is down.
• "All inclusive" vacation models and 'add-ons' (e.g., paid excursions on cruises) are enabling both luxury and budget consumers to travel, but many amenities once free are now being monetized.

Notable Quotes:

• Jodi Laurie:

  “If costs exceed budgets, fewer people than last year said they’d increase their budget… more people this year are planning on cutting and looking at free options.” [16:11]

• Jodi Laurie:

  “International trend is to Canada. Canada bumped up to the second spot… We are seeing a lot of Americans go to Canada and I am curious how much… is a reflection of the World Cup next year.” [17:14]

• Jodi Laurie:

  “Even though you have the cruise lines...that they all are considered these package deal, what every company is doing...is they’re all doing these premium products… The add on...so you can get the base level, which is really the skeleton package.” [19:30]

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4. Utilities, AI, and Powering the Future

Segment Start: [23:03]

Key Discussions:

• AI and data centers are fueling a surge in power demand; utilities are central to enabling this shift.
• Exelon (utility company) is preparing by fast-tracking data center projects while prioritizing affordability for residential customers (~11 million served).
• Innovative tariff/transmission agreements protect consumers: developers must put up deposits linked to long-term projections, shielding residential users from cost overruns or project failures.
• Supply costs (generation) are rising, not always the utility's fault; keeping the generation stack robust is vital to holding bills down.
• Nuclear power's resurgence: recent U.S. government plans to fund 10 large nuclear reactors, leveraging international finance (notably from Japan).

Notable Quotes:

• Calvin Butler (Exelon):

  “The energy sector is 5% of the GDP, but we power the next 95, and we take that very seriously.” [23:52]

• Calvin Butler:

  “We've come up with what we consider a rather innovative solution…requiring a letter of credit or a cash deposit from these large developers…to protect the other customers on the system for the investments that we're making.” [26:23]

• Calvin Butler:

  “That nuclear baseload generation is going to be critical to us meeting this effort. Every electron matters to help on affordability and that’s why it’s so critical.” [28:50]

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Memorable Moments & Tone

• Light banter between hosts, e.g., joking about a limited TV series being made about the Warner Bros. deal. [02:28]
• Personal stories about travel—such as Paul lamenting not discovering "all inclusives" sooner as a parent. [18:19]
• Honest assessments of management strategies and market reactions, with a focus on the long-term wisdom of sometimes-controversial corporate decisions.

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Warner Bros. Discovery M&A news: [02:04] – [05:53]
• Walmart workforce strategy & reputation rehabilitation: [07:30] – [13:04]
• Consumer and travel data & analysis: [15:27] – [20:40]
• AI, utilities, and powering data centers (Exelon Interview): [23:03] – [29:31]

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For listeners wanting deep dives into media M&A, corporate workforce strategy, consumer travel behavior, and the intersection of utilities with AI infrastructure, this episode is packed with nuanced analysis and firsthand industry expertise.

Transcript

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[Host 2]

Us live on YouTube M&A Media M and a pending big, big deal Warner Brothers Discovery. It's in discussions and accepted bids from Paramount, Skydance, from Netflix, maybe even Comcast. Now I guess we wait and see what happens. But this is when this deal crosses a tape, it's going to be a big deal. It's going to have an enterprise value of north of $90 billion.

[Host 1]

I can't wait for them to make a limited TV series about this process.

[Host 2]

Yes, because it's going to be great. Yeah, exactly right. Coming to Netflix on soon. Geetha Ranganathan. She covers the media space for Bloomberg Intelligence as the media analyst there. Ethan, what's the latest on Warner Brothers Discovery? I guess the question now is the bids have been accepted. What are next Steps.

[Geetha Ranganathan]

Yeah, next steps, Paul, is that these were just first round bids. They are non binding bids. You know, as far as the news reports go, it looks like all three companies that were in the race, Paramount Skydance for all of Warner Brothers and then Netflix and Comcast for just the studio and streaming assets, have all placed their bids. This is going to be a very long drawn process. So we're going to have multiple rounds. You know, we've had some conflicting reports actually on what Paramount Skydance was offering. There was something earlier this week which suggested they were offering something north of $28 per share. They came out refuted that report and the latest reports seem to suggest that it might be, it's definitely going to be something much lower than that. Probably something above 25, but still below 27. But let's remember David Zaslav has publicly said that he wants of something north of $30 per share. So this is going to play out for, for quite a while, I think.

[Host 1]

Yeah, that is a pretty big gap between what David Zaslav wants and what the reporting indicates Paramount Skydance is likely to pay. So if this is going to be a long drawn out process, does that benefit Warner Brothers Discovery or these bidders who, who comes out ahead in that kind of scenario?

[Geetha Ranganathan]

Yeah, I mean the long drawn out processes is really not good, good I think for, for, for Warner Brothers Discovery. But having said that, let's remember that they do have another plan B in place. And the plan B is that they are going to go ahead and split their company into two parts. So you have the TV networks business and the streaming and studio business. And the good news for them is that the studio turnaround, which was, you know, kind of in progress, is now really kind of taking shape. We're seeing some really tangible growth come out of both streaming as well as studio. And so worst comes to worst, if nothing materializes from all of these bids and from all of the sale chatter and buzz, they are still on track to separate their businesses. And who knows, maybe that would be the better path for them going forward. So all is not lost even if these bids don't work out.

[Host 2]

Geetha, I know you've done the work. What do you think the entire company is worth?

[Geetha Ranganathan]

So Paul, you know, it all again, depends here on who's making the bid for what parts of the business they're making the bid. So as we kind of look at it right now, I don't think David Zaslav is far off when he says he wants $30 per share for all of the company, we think majority of that value will actually rest with the studio and streaming network. So we, when we kind of crunch the numbers, we get 25 to $28 just for the studio and the streaming business. And, and, but at the end of the day, Paul, it all comes down to synergy. So if you look at combining the entire corporation, all of Warner Brothers Discovery with all of Paramount, for instance, and they both have substantial linear network exposure, they both have studios, they both have streaming assets, we're looking like something like at about 4 to 5 billion dollars in synergies, which then adds to the deal value also.

[Host 2]

Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Intelligence coming up after this.

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[Host 1]

You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence podcast. Catch us live weekdays at 10am Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube. A column that I read this week really resonated because it hits upon three key themes that we're seeing across the markets. Retail, earnings, tech forward, companies and people worried about losing their jobs in this era. Beth Cowett is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and she's written a story about Walmart and its masterclass in reputation rehab. But it really rests on this idea that Walmart invested in its workforce, in its treatment of workers at a time when it was being criticized for not treating its workers well. And this has paid off in many ways. Beth joins us now in our Bloomberg Interactive Broker studio. So Beth, just take us back a couple of years to when Walmart decided that it was going to spend on its workforce. It was going to invest money into the workforce. And investors did not like hearing that.

[Beth Cowett]

Yeah, I mean, it's hard to think about this now, but a decade ago Walmart was one of the most reviled companies in America. Right. It was being criticized for paying its employees low wages, for wiping out mom and pop retailers, for basically creating a culture of disposable consumerism. So it really was getting hit from a lot of different angles. And rather than just ignore the bad press or army, you know, hire an army of PR people, it decided to do something about it. And Doug McMillan decided we're going to invest in our people and $2.7 billion over a couple of years. And we now know this really paid off.

[Host 2]

So I mean, for Doug McMillan, I mean to me, after reading your article, this could be one of his, as he's stepping down, could be one of his lasting legacies at the company.

[Beth Cowett]

I really think so. I think that, you know, he's, he's been at the company now more than a decade. I think this will be among the most enduring things that he has done. I think this, I'm not sure that the company would be in the place it's at today if he had not really addressed this.

[Host 1]

And let's be clear about what exactly he did with that $2.7 billion pay increases. There was training and really just attracting a better quality worker.

[Beth Cowett]

Yeah. And the way he did this was, right, it was pay increases, but more than anything else, it was creating not low paying jobs, but a career. Right. There was now a path for people who started at Walmart to move up the ranks and that was really important. Right. To attracting more ambitious employees, to getting them to stay. And I think that that, that shifted the whole culture of the company.

[Host 2]

So what's the company saying about AI? Because there's a lot of angst just in the overall economy about what the impact I will have upon jobs. One could look at big box stores as an industry that might be at risk because they do employ so many people. What's, what is Walmart say?

[Beth Cowett]

Walmart's taken a very different approach, I think, than some other big employers and it has embraced AI, let's be clear, like there's AI is throughout, embedded throughout the company. But it has not used AI to have some of these mass layoffs that, or justify some of these mass layoffs that we've seen at other companies. And I think part of that is, is this, this history like it knows how important these entry level workers are and that they, they need a path, they need this workforce to sort of grow the company. So it said I will change every job. It knows that. But it is trying to get every worker through to the other side. So whether that's retraining, finding new rules for roles for them. So it's just a very different outlook I think than what we're hearing from others.

[Host 1]

And you've noted as well that the last 10 years at Walmart has led to tremendous return for shareholders. But also it's become a case study at Harvard Business School on how to, on how an experiment on paying your workers more or investing in workers can pay off.

[Beth Cowett]

Absolutely. I mean we, you mentioned this at the beginning, but Wall street hated this plant. I mean the company lost tremendous value, tremendous value when they announced it. And now, you know, we, we have the receipts a decade later and the, I think the market cap has tripled. The stock has returned more than 400%. So they really took a gamble on this and stuck with it. And it really, it has, it has paid off for them.

[Host 2]

I mean every time I look at the screen on the Bloomberg terminal for Walmart, blown away by the fact that they have 2.1 million employees. What's the retention of those employees? I'm wondering if there's like I would think in the warehouses. It might be really, really high. I'm not sure about the stores. How is retention?

[Host 1]

Sure.

[Beth Cowett]

So they've actually increased retention by 10% since 2015 when they, when they started this plan. And another thing is that they've some of the more management level roles, 75% of those are hired from within. So this pipeline is really critical for them. And so that's why I think that they are so focused on creating a place where people stay day. That's, that's key.

[Host 1]

And you only have to look at the outgoing CEO and the NTO. Right. Both Doug McMillan and John Furner, the successor, are Walmart lifers. They started off as hourly workers.

[Beth Cowett]

They're right. They know the importance of that. And having worked their way up, that needs to be something that continues there.

[Host 2]

Is this something that you think the new CEO is as committed to as the prior CEO?

[Beth Cowett]

I would think so because he has the same background. I mean, I think he knows the importance of emerging technologies. He's really focused on that. But I think because of his history and he's worked very closely with McMillan for a long time, so they must be aligned on this.

[Host 2]

Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Intelligence coming up after this. Managing multiple accounts and logins for your marketing needs is like managing multiple announcers for one ad.

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[Host 1]

You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast. Catch us live weekdays at 10am Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto Wednesday with the Bloomberg Business App. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube.

[Host 2]

Jodi Laurie joins us here in our Bloomberg Interactive Broker Studio in the big town. How about that Jody? We love your coverage. You covered the from the credit perspective, all the fun industries like hotels, like cruise ships and all that kind of Stuff I know you guys put out a survey talking about how people are spending their vacation money. What do you learn?

[Jodi Laurie]

So we do the survey every half a year and so we just got the results out for the most recent one that we ran last week. And what's interesting is that we're seeing more people planning on keeping their budgets the same. But what's more interesting is that if costs exceed budgets, fewer people than last year said they'd increase their budget. And that's on the back of them knowing that inflation is a much higher risk for them for their portfolio.

[Host 1]

So in other words, people are making room for time off but they're going to have to scrimp more in order to make it happen because their, their money is not going to take them as far as it used to. Correct.

[Jodi Laurie]

And Scarlet, I mean I think to, to piggyback on that. If you look the eating out anticipation of spending is higher this year than last year. And I think that's less a reflection of people wanting to eat out but more that they're expecting eating out is going to be more expensive. And so even though we're seeing people want to spend on paid activities and experiences which could bode well for the cruise lines and the theme parks, at the end of the day when costs exceed budgets, more people this year over last year are planning on cutting and looking at free options. So going to the free museums, going to low cost options.

[Host 1]

Well, now that the government is open, D.C. is an option once again. How about in terms of destination, maybe staying closer to home, maybe not going quite as far internationally.

[Jodi Laurie]

Yes, and staying closer to home is very, very much key. If we see the data, the international trend is to Canada. Canada bumped up to the second spot. So we saw that in the mid year and it was pretty curious for us particularly because when you look at it the opposite way and we did this analysis few months ago, Canada is not coming to the U.S. they don't want to come to the U.S. it's too expensive for them. They don't really like the current government situation and on top of it I think they're scared about crossing the border and what it means for immigration. So we're seeing Canadians not come to the US and we're seeing a lot of companies comment on that. But we are seeing a lot of Americans go to Canada and I am curious how much and this is going to come in further reports how much of the Canada move is a reflection of the World cup next year. There's a lot of people going to Vancouver for Instance for the World Cup. I'll actually be there during the World Cup. But not going to the World Cup.

[Host 2]

Why? It's like a billion people are going to be there.

[Jodi Laurie]

We might be doing a very family friendly cruise to Alaska.

[Host 2]

Nice.

[Host 1]

It just works out that that's around the same time as the World Cup.

[Jodi Laurie]

It was bad timing.

[Host 2]

It was bad timing. All right, talk to me. This is when I go to Aruba. We go to all inclusive. How come I didn't know about this all inclusive thing when I had four little kids?

[Host 1]

I mean, were they, were they, were they a thing back then?

[Host 2]

I don't know, but I mean, I would get the bill, which would be 5 inches thick with like smoothies and chicken fingers and all that kind of crap that they'd eat throughout the day. Four kids, man. If I had, if I knew about the all inclusive, that would have been a savior for me. What are people doing when they, are they willing to still pay up for travel? Because I still hear people going to Europe and stuff like that. I mean, they're not going to Poughkeepsie, they're going to Paris and things.

[Jodi Laurie]

Yeah, I mean, Japan is certainly a popular destination.

[Host 1]

Strong dollar.

[Jodi Laurie]

There's, yeah, very much increased. Italy has increased. We're seeing among the upper income level, Portugal and Spain as popular destinations. And I think probably what's even more interesting is onboard spending for cruises is still continuing to have momentum at the moment. I think where we're watching is when that onboard spending shifts and then the cruise lines, for example, don't get that gravy for cash flow. And to your point, Paul, I mean, even though you have something called all inclusives, even though you have the cruise lines, that they all are considered these package deal, what every company is doing, and we're talking the rental car companies, you know, Avis is doing this to obviously the airlines is they're all doing these premium products. These, you know, you do different tiers of products so the add on so you can get the base level, which is really the skeleton package. But anyone from cruise lines to, you know, theme parks to some extent, to the all inclusives, to the airlines, to the rental car companies are all segmenting to give, you know, the lower income consumer the ability to say that they traveled and the higher income consumer the ability to travel luxury.

[Host 1]

And in terms of the add ons, what are these add ons? Are they, you know, things that they used to offer for free and now.

[Jodi Laurie]

Charge you for for some of it, it is. So, you know, a good example. I have is anecdotally I know that some of the cruise lines that used to not charge to get people into the center of a city, say in Europe, you're on a European cruise, they used to give that for free. Now they say no, you have to be a part of one of our, you know, expeditions, one of our, one of our excursions in order to get that for free. Otherwise we charge you $20 to get into the center of town in, you know, Czechoslovakia. Not Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic.

[Host 2]

Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Intelligence Coming up after this Managing multiple accounts and logins for your marketing needs is like managing multiple.

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[Host 2]

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[Host 1]

You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast. Catch us live weekdays at 10am Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Andro Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube.

[Host 2]

Obviously, the theme this week or one of the themes has been in video and its strong earnings. AI has been really a driving theme for this overall market for going on three years now. And investors have been looking for derivative ways to play that theme. And one of that has been how do you get to power all these data centers out there? And that leads you to utilities, and that leads you to our next guest, Calvin Butler, CEO of Exelon. It is a publicly traded company. EXC is the ticker. The stock's up about 1% today, up about 22% year to date, so certainly performing well with the other utility stocks. Calvin, thank you so much for joining us here again. When I look at your industry, you guys are critical to the rollout of AI because we gotta power this stuff, these data centers. How do you guys view it?

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[Host 1]

You take it seriously. So walk us through some of the plans you're making, how you're preparing for this transition, for this increase in demand.

[Ad Voice]

Yeah. Thank you, Scarlett. What we have done, we've done a few things, is one understanding for your listeners. Exelon, we are truly a transmission and distribution company, you know, proud to have six utilities operate in the electric, gas side through the pipes and wires. So having said that, being the backbone of that, we're encouraging those data centers and large developers to come into the states in which we operate. And we put together a comprehensive plan to get them online up and running sooner rather than later. Speed is everything for them. And so what it takes is a coordinated effort. And we've worked very hard to move upstream to get them online so they can do what they do, which is on the technology side. Now, as we do that, we have to keep in mind, first and foremost, the affordability factor for all of our communities. And that's where we're working with them to identify sites that are more ready to put their equipment and their technology in place.

[Host 2]

We had a couple of governor races recently in New Jersey and in Virginia, and affordability was one of the big issues. And in New Jersey, the governor elect who actually won, one of her number one issues was bringing down electric utility bills. So this is an issue that is, we got to fund, we got to, I guess create and develop these data centers, but we got to do it in a way that it doesn't cause everybody's power bills to go up. How do you think about that transition?

[Ad Voice]

Paul? You're absolutely right. It was a race in both New Jersey and Virginia an issue. And we believe it's going to be an issue in the 2026 elections because affordability, pocketbook issues are going to be key. So let me tell you what we're doing from excellent perspective. We are protecting our residential customers. We serve almost 11 million customers. So as important as it is for data center development, it's more important for me to protect the other customers in this process. So we've come up with what we consider a rather innovative solution in creating a tariff and a transmission security agreement. So what that does is we require a letter of credit or a cash deposit from these large developers speculating or identifying what their 10 year revenue projections or cost projections coming back to our utility is. And anytime that they do not meet 80% of that load projections or cash projections, we draw down from that deposit. And what it does, it protects the other customers on the system for the investments that we're making. So we're being very intentional about protecting the other users on the system because when it's done right, it should reduce the cost for everyone. But when it's done haphazardly or piecemeal, it can have ramifications that everyone else is impacted. But what you're seeing, not just from the capital investment, you're seeing the supply costs go up, supply costs are going up because of the increased demand and we have inadequate generation on the system to do that. You use New Jersey as an example. Let me give you a real example of what happened to New Jersey customers last year. New Jersey customers, average residential customers bill rose $38$34. I'm sorry, $34. $38 was due to supply because they were reconciling our bill, our bill, our cost, the demand, the transmission and distribution part went down $4, but the bill still went up 34. That's how important it is to get this supply stack right to help lower all customers bills.

[Host 1]

Calvin, let me ask you about nuclear because this week the government announced it plans to buy and own up to 10 large new nuclear reactors that could be paid for using Japan's pledge to fund $550 billion of investments in the U.S. of course, this is part of a push to meet surging demand for electricity. And nuclear is increasingly seen as a solution to this need. What's your take?

[Ad Voice]

I think it's critical. I truly believe in a all of the above approach and that nuclear baseload generation is going to be critical to us meeting this effort. As you know, again, we've always taken our approach that every electron matters to help on affordability and that's why it's so critical. I use an example, the Crane center that's coming back online in Pennsylvania. That's critical because it's new generation coming back online. Microsoft is paying for it and that billion dollar loan is exactly what we need to encourage reopening of these former facilities to get more electrons back on. And that was one of the best operating nuclear plants prior to its shuttering.

[Host 1]

This is the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast, available on Apple, Spotify and anywhere else you get. Your podcasts listen live each weekday 10am to noon Eastern on Bloomberg.com, the iHeartRadio app, TuneIn and the Bloomberg.com Business app. You can also watch us live Every weekday on YouTube and always on the Bloomberg Terminal.

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