(Reuters) -Warner Bros Discovery is considering an outright sale following interest from several potential buyers, even as it moves forward with its previously announced split into two companies, the company
said on Tuesday.
Shares of the company rose about 8% in premarket trading.
Warner Bros' strategic review comes after it received an unsolicited bid, the company said, but did not name the bidder.
A sale or a split would mark one of the most consequential reshaping moments in the media industry, potentially prompting other legacy media houses to revisit their own structures.
Media reports indicate that Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison is in talks to acquire the combined company before its planned separation into Warner Bros and Discovery Global.
The company rejected an initial bid from Paramount, Bloomberg News reported earlier this month, because the offer of around $20 per share was too low.
There is no deadline or definitive timetable set for completion of the strategic alternatives review process, Warner Bros Discovery said on Tuesday.
Skydance's advances soon after snapping up Paramount speaks to Ellison family's voracious appetite to dominate the global media landscape amid a favorable regulatory regime in the U.S.
Streaming has fundamentally reshaped the media industry, leaving traditional broadcasters with mounting debt, higher content budgets and fragmented viewership.
The decline of legacy media, driven by linear TV cord-cutting, as well as the shift of audiences and advertisers to streaming platforms, has forced traditional media companies to rethink their business structures.
Warner Bros Discovery - home to CNN, HBO Max and the "Harry Potter" franchise - has been trimming jobs and plans to split its cable and streaming units by next year to unlock asset value.
(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)
