By George Glover
Warner Bros. Discovery stock was struggling for direction on Thursday after the entertainment company reported a wider-than-expected loss, as its cable networks business carried on floundering.
Shares edged up 0.1% to $28.91 in premarket trading. Futures tracking the S&P 500 were flat, as quarterly results from Nvidia failed to boost the broader market.
Warner Discovery reported a fourth-quarter loss of 10 cents a share, as revenue dropped 6% from a year ago to $9.46 billion. Analysts were expecting a loss of 3 cents a share on revenue of $9.35 billion, according to a FactSet poll.
The results come amid a fierce takeover battle. Warner agreed in December to sell its streaming and studios business to Netflix for $27.75 a share. On Tuesday it said that it would decide whether a rival, $31 a share bid from Paramount Skydance for all of Warner Discovery "could reasonably be expected" to lead to a superior proposal.
Netflix's CEO Ted Sarandos is set to visit the White House on Thursday to discuss the video streamer's bid, Politico reported, citing two people familiar with discussions. Netflix didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Barron's.
The bidding war could come down to what investors think the Discovery cable assets are worth, seeing as they would be spun out to investors under the terms of Netflix's offer.
Warner said on Thursday that adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or Ebitda, for the linear networks business fell 27% from a year ago, to $1.41 billion. That matched Wall Street's forecast.
Paramount has repeatedly said that shareholders should accept its proposal because it believes the linear networks have zero equity value, citing the valuation that CNBC owner Versant Media Group has traded at since it made its stock market debut last month. Versant is seen as a comparable company to Discovery.
Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 26, 2026 07:58 ET (12:58 GMT)
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