Standard General’s Soo Kim courted by WBD shareholder over CNN stake

A New York hedge funder, Soo Kim, founder of Standard General, has been approached by at least one Warner Bros. Discovery shareholder about buying CNN, according to a Financial Times report. The inquiry highlights ongoing interest in WBD’s cable assets, which include CNN, TNT, Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, as the company pursues a spin-off of those networks into a separate company. Those networks are being positioned for a stand-alone unit as Netflix has agreed to buy WBD’s studio and streaming business in a $72 billion deal that reshapes the media group’s hierarchy.

Kim, known as a vulture capitalist for investing in distressed properties and casinos, has built a portfolio that includes 15 Bally’s casinos across 10 states, a Colorado horse racetrack and the Ferry Point golf course that he acquired from the Trump Organization last year. The Financial Times report says Kim has been in talks about potentially buying or investing in WBD’s cable assets as part of the spin-off plan.

In parallel with those asset moves, WBD has faced a pitched bid battle. Paramount Skydance’s $78 billion hostile bid to take over the entire company would include CNN, and has prompted a rejection push from WBD board. The company described Paramount’s offer as illusory and said it lacked secure financing or an equity backstop, arguing that it did not offer advantages over Netflix’s competing proposal.

Paramount’s bid comes as Netflix’s deal to buy WBD’s studio and streaming assets is worth about $27.75 a share in cash and stock and represents a different path for the company’s future. Netflix has presented what it says is a superior proposal, while WBD has said it has engaged with several potential buyers of its TV assets but did not specify names. The Ellison family, which backs Paramount Skydance, has reported no immediate plans to raise the bid beyond the current offer or to increase financing.

WBD’s board chair Samuel Di Piazza Jr. has stressed that any deal must be evaluated through the lens of shareholder value and regulatory considerations, and has urged shareholders to reject proposals that do not meet the bar of a superior proposal. As the two-track process of spinning off the cable networks and negotiating possible sales continues, the market is watching how the competing bids and investor interest will reshape CNN’s ownership and the broader strategy for WBD’s asset mix. Neither Standard General nor Warner Bros. Discovery immediately commented on the Financial Times report.