Paramount throws in more cash in bid for Warner; Comcast wants to combine assets with NBCUniversal

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Paramount is raising the stakes in its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, upping its offer for the assets with backing from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, including Saudi Arabia, while rival Comcast has proposed creating a new entertainment entity.

Instead of offering cash, Comcast has proposed combining NBCUniversal with HBO and the Warner Bros. film and television studios to form a separate stand-alone entertainment company, according to people familiar with the bids but not authorized to comment.

Such a combination would marry robust film studios, deep libraries and middling streaming services, Warner’s HBO Max and NBCUniversal’s Peacock. It would give Universal’s theme par