Firex8

Some incentives to invest in Entertainment, particularly WBD

Long
Firex8 Updated   
BATS:WBD   Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. - Series A
Some bullet points breakdowns:

Fundamental metrics looks good. It's not a bloated stock... Not overpriced, poised for nothing more than upside in my view. Debt to Equity is not high either.

SAG-AFTRA/WGA strikes have resolved and the lack of earnings I think it's safe to say are connected to the strikes.

A potential merger between Warner Brothers Discovery and Paramount is in the works. The questions is what is the timeline, and even more so, what type of Anti-Trust hurdles might be encountered from the FTC/SEC, if any. It could be either that WB buys paramount, or the other way around, however some are sceptical that any deal could be done. If paramount ended up buying WBD, there could be a stock buyout. www.hollywoodreporte...t-doubts-1235773951/

Paramount's Debt to Equity is under a 1.5 as well, so I think the concern about debt all around is a bit conflated. I ultimately think that investors just don't want a merger because they feel WBD can do well on it's own post-strike. Perhaps they feel it's just unnecessary and pre-mature, and it's not fair to judge it under the circumstances beyond their control.

Now that the strikes are over, their production is returning. One of the company's holdings is New Line Cinema which has some buzz-worthy feature titles set to release in 2024-2025. A few examples are:

Blade
Final Destination 6
Mortal Kombat 2
Rush Hour 4
A remake of The Wizard of Oz

They also have HBO MAX which has gained some momentum with True Detective: Night Country and the upcoming Series Finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm with Larry David in February. Subscribers are fairly stable, without any serious increase or decrease. It's main competitor in terms of market share are Disney + and staying in the lead of Hulu and Apple TV +. It is promoting the 25th anniversay of The Sopranos, and has recently announced it's services will be made available to Latin America ( www.msn.com/en-us/tv...february/ar-BB1hcKv0 )

All in all, I think the price is low enough to be seen as valuable and there is mostly potential to the upside for various reasons. Could their creative production be better in my opinion, and the culture of Hollywood improve? Absolutely. But are people "buying it"? I think so. More often than not.
Comment:
Weather channel owner and media mogul Byron Allen offering Paramount 14 billion to sell. It's a low ball offer considering EV is listed at 24 billlion. Doesn't seem plausible, and he like others are touting Parmount's mounting debt, which is not the case at all from what I see, though the stock is not hot. These companies compared to other industries I believe keep notably tight ratios. Allen is seems to be trying to lure stock holders with a buyout and to buy the whole thing outright, half off. Current top holders are Berkshire, Vanguard, SSgA, Blackrock, and Invesco. Depends on where they are positioned which would determine their reactions to this offer.
Comment:
If you invested 3,000,000 dollars in WBD and it gets back up to 20, you net 2,500,000 dollars.
Comment:
Other outlets reporting Byron Allen did offer 30 billion. So who knows what’s going on. It’s a fools investment in my opinion. He doesn’t know what to do with it and will drive it down to become worthless. He’s a liberal dud and trying to acquire paramount as an ego play. It makes no fiscal sense. Obviously he’s suckered some other investors into it because he definitely doesn’t have that money and I’m sure he’s baked in the deal that he will be the new face of Hollywood, pushing a certain type of agenda we see plastered throughout media these days. He will only exacerbate the underlying issues with Hollywood being so woke, and not coming to terms that liberals are not loyal to any one company and conservatives are the only ones still watching tv and non-comic book blockbusters.
Comment:
CNBC article downplaying Allen’s track record. Sheri Redstone runs Paramount and will have a big say in this, however, if Byron does have the capital, he can potentially go around the fence and buy out major portions of the stock and go for a hostile takeover, though I don’t know if he’s that type of guy. Record shows no. www.cnbc.com/amp/202...led-media-bids-.html
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