Ryan Knudson

When I got Joe back on the phone about an hour later, I asked him about the original vision for Warner Bros.

Discovery.

But instead of becoming the ultimate Hollywood giant, Warner Bros.

Discovery stumbled.

Joe says its CEO, David Zaslav, actually took on a lot of headaches.

Its cable business was challenged by cord cutting, and building a streaming business was expensive.

The company was saddled with heavy debt and its stock price was in decline for much of its existence.

So how did Warner Discovery become a takeover target?

But before Zaslav could split the company up, Paramount decided to pounce.

And earlier this year, it put in several unsolicited bids to buy Warner.

And not just one part, but the whole thing.

So introduce us to Paramount.

Who's behind this company and why does Paramount suddenly decide to make an unsolicited bid for Warner?

I feel like this is like nesting dolls.

It's just like there's one merger inside of another merger inside of another merger that's now trying to, you know, go inside another giant merger.

Joe says Paramount thought that by moving early, it could have a clean shot at a takeover.

So Paramount makes these unsolicited bids for Warner Brothers Discovery.

How did David Zaslav at Warner Brothers respond to those bids?

The auction, which was primarily over those sexy parts, HBO Max and the movie studios, drew bids from Comcast and Netflix.

So what was the appeal for Netflix to own Warner Brothers?