Warner Bros. Discovery reported a decrease in both sales and profit for the fourth quarter, underscoring the significant challenges the media giant faces as it evaluates competing acquisition offers. Financial results showed the company's Q4 revenue fell by 5.6% year-over-year to $9.46 billion. Adjusted EBITDA contracted to $2.22 billion. Despite these declines, both figures surpassed Wall Street expectations. The loss per share was $0.10, an improvement from the $0.20 loss per share reported in the same period last year.

Revenue from the television networks unit, which includes CNN, TNT, and HGTV, declined by 12% to $4.2 billion, impacted by lower advertising sales and distribution income. Adjusted EBITDA for the segment decreased by 27% to $1.41 billion. The studio division reported a 13% drop in revenue to $3.18 billion, missing analyst forecasts of $3.37 billion. Earnings from films, television programming, and video games all decreased, with profits for the division falling by 23%.

The streaming business saw a 5% increase in sales to $2.79 billion, partly driven by growth in advertising revenue, although profits experienced a slight decline. Services like HBO Max added 3.5 million subscribers during the quarter, bringing the global total to 131.6 million.

These financial results were released as a fierce bidding contest for the iconic Hollywood studio intensifies. Paramount recently raised its offer for Warner Bros. Discovery to $31 per share, aiming to disrupt the company's current agreement with Netflix. Warner Bros. Discovery is now assessing whether this new proposal is superior to the existing deal, which involves selling its studio and HBO Max operations to Netflix for $27.75 per share. Should the board favor Paramount's revised offer, Netflix would have a four-day window to respond—either by increasing its bid or withdrawing.

During the season, the loss of NBA U.S. media rights to new agreements signed by The Walt Disney Company, Comcast, and Amazon negatively impacted television viewership for Warner Bros. Discovery. Under the terms of the deal with Netflix, the company plans to spin off its cable networks into a separate entity in the third quarter.

Warner Bros. Discovery was formed from a merger four years ago. The company has been striving to compete with streaming rivals like Netflix while addressing audience declines in its traditional cable TV business. Despite carrying over $32 billion in debt and a prolonged period of stock price stagnation, the share price has surged by 130% since Paramount expressed acquisition interest last September.