WHEN: Today, Wednesday, October 22, 2025
WHERE: CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street”
Following is the unofficial transcript of breaking news from CNBC’s David Faber on “Squawk on the Street” (M-F, 9AM-11AM ET) today, Wednesday, October 22. Following is video on CNBC.com: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2025/10/22/faber-report-warner-bros-discovery-board-rejected-three-offers-from-paramount-sources-say.html.
All references must be sourced to CNBC.
DAVID FABER: That does get me to some new reporting, at least, on where things sort of stood before Warner Bros. Discovery made the decision to put itself up for sale, to see what else was out there, to at the very least create a record for shareholders and the board to stand behind if and when they do come back and say yes to Paramount. And frankly, given where Paramount was, I’m a bit surprised, perhaps, that they said no because I had previously reported 22 to 24 would be sort of the range where they might end up. And they ended up very close to $24 a share, perhaps a little bit shy of it, from what I understand based on people familiar with the situation, but very close to bidding 24 after starting at 19, making three separate bids, the last of which was this one very close to 24, 80% was cash, 20% was stock, and it was rejected. For the third time, they got rejected. You know, Jim, that was a big price, 24, for a board to say no for a stock that came from 12 saying no to that, and then saying, well, we’re going to generate a higher stock price with a split that’s coming. Maybe, maybe, but you’ve got some very aggressive targets there. And if, when I was doing reporting towards the beginning of sort of Paramount’s wooing of Warner Bros. And I said, what about 24 to a lot of people, they said, man, the board would be smart to accept that. Not the case, David Zaslav and John Malone, my understanding is both were against and the board unanimously decided to reject that. But as this process moves along, my question will be a, is Netflix really there? Will our parent company, Comcast, come? More on that in a moment. And then could there be something unexpected, an Amazon? I think it’s unlikely at this juncture. Apple?
JIM CRAMER: No.
FABER: Microsoft?
CRAMER: Eh.
FABER: So really, Comcast, Netflix, maybe, and then you probably come back to Paramount, but at least you can tell everybody, we looked, we tried to figure it out, and maybe you get it done at a bit higher than where they last ended.
For more information contact:
Stephanie Hirlemann
CNBC
m: 201.397.2838