That's all, folks! Warner Bros goes up for auction

A century after its founding, Warner Bros is on the block.

- Stephen Armstrong

Three companies have submitted rival bids in the first step in the auction of one of the last standalone studios in Hollywood and some of the best known brands in entertainment.

Warner's sale will transform the US film business. Paramount Skydance, Netflix and Comcast are in the running for a sprawling empire that includes HBO, CNN and Warner Bros film and TV studios. A deal could trigger the intervention of Donald Trump and prompt layoffs in an industry reeling from a production slowdown and two years of job losses. It would also bring down the final curtain on Hollywood's Golden Age, leaving four of the five biggest studios in Southern California owned by tech-based companies, or, in Paramount’s case, the scion of one.