While the lawyers fight, the bankers are already working.
Per Bloomberg, investment bankers have approached potential buyers about acquiring New Line Cinema, the Warner Bros. label behind The Lord of the Rings and It, along with Warner Bros. cable networks, as Paramount’s legal fight to close the deal drags on.
Nothing is officially for sale, but te feelers are going out anyway.
What’s In The Window
New Line and the cable channels are the names Bloomberg reports directly.
The outlet also notes Paramount has already tried to sell BET, looked for partners on MTV, and fielded interest in Comedy Central.
Analysts are going further.
LightShed’s Rich Greenfield argues Paramount should sell the former Turner channels, TBS, TNT, and CNN, since sports keep them valuable.
Craig Huber of Huber Research says carving out CNN “would placate a lot of the politicians” by keeping CBS and CNN from sitting under the same roof.
None of this is also a new idea inside Warner Bros.
David Zaslav proposed spinning off the cable channels himself last year, before Paramount came for the whole company.
And Netflix had a deal for just the Warner Bros. studios and streaming before Paramount outbid it in February. The pieces have been priced before.
Both Sides Are Suddenly Talking Structure
One day after Bonta canceled Monday’s settlement meeting, he told Bloomberg TV that the states have identified three problem areas in their complaint: theatrical distribution, blockbuster distribution, and cable-channel licensing.
If Paramount offers a structural remedy for each, Bonta said, “we’ll listen.”
Paramount then used the same language. In a statement to Bloomberg, the company said it remains ready to continue good-faith settlement talks “inclusive of structural remedies.”
That’s the key. Structural remedies mean changing the deal itself, selling assets, divesting businesses, or keeping certain operations separate.
Bonta has demanded that kind of solution from the start. Paramount is now publicly saying it’s willing to discuss it.
The deal has already cleared 68 jurisdictions, including the DOJ and the EU. What’s left is the states and a March 2 trial that neither side says it wants.
