WarnerMedia is in talks to sell off TMZ to Fox, according to multiple reports.
The Information first reported on Tuesday that the celebrity gossip site was for sale, which would represent another paring down of AT&T’s media assets as its prepares to spinoff WarnerMedia into a merger with Discovery.
Reps for WarnerMedia, AT&T and Fox declined to comment.
Over the last few months, AT&T has sold off many of its media assets, most notable being the $43 billion merger agreement with Discovery for WarnerMedia. In the past few weeks, AT&T finalized its sale of anime-focused streaming service Crunchyroll to Sony and spinoff of DirecTV. AT&T also sold mobile games studio Playdemic to Electronic Arts for $1.4 billion in June.
A potential sale of TMZ to Fox makes sense. The gossip site’s newsmagazine series, “TMZ on TV” airs on local Fox stations.
Under the terms of the all-stock agreement with Discovery, AT&T will receive $43 billion (a figure subject to adjustment) in a combination of cash, debt securities and WarnerMedia’s retention of certain debt, and AT&T’s shareholders will receive stock representing 71% of the new company. Discovery shareholders will own 29% of the new company, which will be called Warner Bros. Discovery.
The estimated combined value of the new company is $130 billion.
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