• by Wayne Friedman , 6 hours ago

Warner Bros. Discovery stock jumped 6% to $23.69 on Tuesday with the news of a potential Paramount Skydance $71 billion bid for the company.

In early Wednesday trading, the company maintained that level.

A Variety report suggests the deal is being backed by an investment consortium with the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Paramount Skydance told Variety the report was “categorically inaccurate.” The company did not respond to Television News Daily inquiries by press time.

Another report says WBD’s board of directors wants more than previous offers -- now around $30 a share, according to an Axios report.

WBD previously rejected offers -- before it publicly opened itself up to possible deals -- as high as $23.50/share, from David Ellison, chairman/CEO of Paramount Skydance.

Since WBD recently agreed to review possible deals for the company, rumors and reports have swirled around possible buyers including Comcast Corp., Paramount Skydance, and Netflix. WBD has set a November 20 deadline for initial bids for the company.

It is assumed that all three companies will make bids for WBD by the deadline.

Laurent Yoon, media analyst of Bernstein Research, says Comcast has arrived as “credible bidder” for the company but worries that it would almost certainly face a “challenging regulatory process” given its ownership of over the air TV stations and possible antitrust concerns in the marketplace.

He says Paramount remains “best-positioned (financing and regulatory) to get this deal across the finish line.” And while he believes Netflix is in a better position than Comcast, it also would be antitrust issues due to its market strength.