IAC chairman and billionaire media and tech investor Barry Diller expressed interest in buying CNN last year, TheWrap has learned.
As first reported by The Wall Street Journal, Diller expressed interest prior to the announcement of Warner Bros. Discovery’s review of strategic alternatives in June.
An insider familiar with the matter tells TheWrap that Diller met with a few executives from management, but that no serious action was taken nor was it brought to the company’s board of directors.The individual added that CNN is very important to the company’s distribution agreements and that selling off the network separately would result in a large tax bill.
WBD has since entered into an $83 billion deal to sell its streaming and studio assets to Netflix, which is expected to close within 12 to 18 months. Shareholders are expected to vote on the deal by April. Meanwhile, CNN, Discovery+ and other Warner cable networks are set to be spun out into a standalone company, Discovery Global, in the next six to nine months.
“CNN is an incredibly important part of the future of Discovery Global once it separates from Warner Bros,” a WBD spokesperson told TheWrap. “While interest in the premier global news network is not at all new, CNN was not and is not for sale.”
Representatives for IAC and Diller declined to comment.
Per a recent financial disclosure, CNN is projected hit $1.8 billion in revenue and $600 million in adjusted profit for 2026.
Revenue is expected to rise to $1.9 billion in 2027, $2 billion in 2028 and $2.2 billion by 2030. Meanwhile, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) is expected to fall to $500 million in 2027 and remain flat at $600 million through 2030.
WBD says that it expects “new platform revenue” to account for $600 million of CNN’s revenue by 2030. (CNN launched an ambitious streaming play, All Access, last fall.) It also anticipates core revenue declines at a 4% compound annual growth rate, offset by ongoing savings initiatives to stabilize profits and pivot resources towards growth opportunities.
CNN is a critical component to Discovery Global’s ultimate value, which WBD believes is worth as much as $6.96 a share if it is acquired.
Overall, Discovery Global is expected to generate $17 billion in total revenue and $5.4 billion in adjusted EBITDA for 2026, with those expected to fall to $15.6 billion and $3.8 billion, respectively, by 2030. It is expected to have $17 billion in debt as of June 30, 2026, which will decrease to $16.1 billion by the end of 2026. The debt being placed on the spinoff was reduced by $260 million due to better-than-expected cash-flow performance of the business last year.
The remaining U.S. networks are projected to generate $10 billion in revenue and $3.5 billion in EBITDA, while its international networks are projected to generate $4.3 billion in revenue and $1.1 billion in EBITDA. By 2030, the remaining U.S. networks are expected to generate $8.2 billion in revenue and $1.8 billion in profit, while the international networks are expected to generate $4.2 billion in revenue and $900 million in EBITDA.
Discovery+ is projected to generate $800 million in revenue and $200 million in adjusted EBITDA in 2026 and expects those figures to grow to $1 billion and $400 million by 2030, respectively.
Diller’s interest comes after WBD previously revealed in a regulatory filing that “Company C,” which TheWrap previously reported was Starz, submitted a $25 billion cash bid for Discovery Global and its 20% stake in Warner Bros.
Additionally, “Company B,” which is described as a private holding company and global investment firm, signed a non-disclosure agreement and expressed interest in a deal involving Discovery Global. At the time of the auction, both potential deals were determined to be “not actionable.”
At least one major WBD shareholder also approached Standard General co-founder Soo Kim about acquiring or investing in the company’s cable networks, according to the Financial Times, though it’s unclear if anything materialized.
Diller’s interest in CNN comes as Paramount Skydance is seeking to block the Netflix deal and Discovery Global spinoff.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has launched a formal proxy war and has previously announced its intention to nominate directors to WBD’s board to further engage with its $108.4 billion hostile takeover bid.
Ellison, who is also suing in Delaware to extract more information about how the Netflix deal and Discovery Global spinoff were valued, has argued that the cable networks are worthless, pegging Discovery Global’s equity value between nothing and 50 cents.
It took aim at the board’s projections for Discovery Global, arguing that a discounted cash flow analysis revealed a value as low as 72 cents per share. The media giant also warned that if some or all of Discovery Global’s debt needs to be allocated back to Warner Bros.’ streaming and studios business, the Netflix deal’s consideration for shareholders could be reduced.
If leveraged in line with Comcast cable network spinoff Versant, Paramount said Discovery Global would only be able to support roughly $5.1 billion in debt and that $11.9 billion would be transferred reducing the cash per share from Netflix to WBD shareholders to roughly $23.20.
Paramount has extended the deadline on its tender offer to Feb. 20, with around 168.5 million shares, or 7% of WBD’s total 2.48 billion outstanding shares, validly tendered and not withdrawn as of Jan. 21.
