CNBC's "Fast Money" team breaks down the battle over Warner Brothers Discovery and what it may signal for the broader media landscape with Michael Burns, vice chairman at Lionsgate.

Hollywood

Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns commented on the ongoing competition for Warner Bros. Discovery, emphasizing that the situation underscores the growing value of premium content libraries. Burns highlighted Lionsgate's own library as a core asset, noting its billion-dollar run rate and significant margins, and stated that both Netflix and Paramount could benefit from acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery's assets.

Burns also addressed the recent interest from high-profile investors and private equity in media companies, suggesting that strategic alliances could command higher prices due to potential synergies. He concluded that the current landscape favors companies with strong content libraries and scale, positioning Lionsgate well for future opportunities.

Warner Bros. Discovery battle shows value of premium content

For more on the battle for Warner Bros. Discovery, let's bring in Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns, front of the show for more than a decade at this point. No, since the beginning of the show. Since the beginning of the show, yes. Since the Carl Icahn Michael Burns days. We should play some of those clips. Please don't. It's great to see you. How do you see this shaking out? Well, I don't have a horse in the game, but I think it's in many ways great for us. Certainly validating the value of premium content, because obviously the library is attractive for both bidders in this particular case. So I don't know who ends up with it. I think that it's good for us. There were reports over the summer that Legendary was eyeing a deal along with Apollo for Lionsgate. What is the status of that? Are you still in talks? I never really talk about deals or potential deals, but there's a lot of, obviously everybody overuses the word synergies. There's a lot of value to what we have to a lot of different companies, which is scale, particularly on the library with premium content. It's a core asset. It's a, you know, John and I have assembled that library over 25 years. It's a billion dollar run rate and it's a big margin business, $500 million plus. So it's a valuable asset. Have you been entertaining calls? Have I been entertaining calls? We're paying attention to what's going on there. And look, we're in a place that our stock since the separation has moved nicely recently. But again, we're a pure play that we weren't a pure play when we were combined with Starz. So now you have Starz trading on Nasdaq where we are right now, and you have Lionsgate trading on the big board. And so we are now back to where we were, which is a pure play content company, which we think is the right place to be right now. It is the right place to be. And this is out there in the public. We've talked about it. Steve Mnuchin has been buying stock. Steve Cohen's been buying stock. If you just do back of the envelope math, you look at where Lionsgate is trading in terms of this deal, and it's too cheap. And I've said that before. That's not my question. My question, who do you think needs it more? You know, my sense is Netflix could use it, but they don't need it. Paramount, the one to me, is the one that really needs this. Does that make sense? I think it's actually great for either company. I think Netflix always wants additional library. Look at some of the big performers they've had. You know, look at Suits, for example. So I think they could use that. You always need, you know, great library. I think David Ellison and the team there, they want scale. And this certainly would give that to them. So I think it's good for both. Again, I don't have a horse in the race. I think it's nice to see valuable content being valued higher. Michael, Mel just mentioned Apollo, taking a look at you guys. Do you think, you know, obviously, Versant is being spun out of NBCUniversal. There's talk that obviously private equity is going to take a look at a lot of these assets. Do you think that you've been around this business for a long time? What does it mean when private equity starts looking at these sorts of businesses? Because I have to assume it gives you guys some more room to basically put your head down and just focus on the things that you want to focus on. Private equity has, I don't know, the trillions and trillions of dollars that they have. They want to put it to work. They don't get paid unless they put it to work. But I do think if you take a look at the landscape, the strategic alliances, I would think, could pay higher prices than private equity because of the synergies that are there. I could say, I could name three or four companies, which I won't, that I think there'd be a great strategic alliance with us. And there'd be a great deal of synergy savings. And if you put a synergies, not only, not only, not only. First letter. Not only synergies, and again, for cost synergies, but also revenue synergies. And if you put a multiple on that, it's, I think, I think we're in a good place. Thank you.

On Monday, President Trump announced a new class of Navy battleships he's calling the "Golden Fleet." The president said two vessels will be built in the short term, with plans to expand to up to 25.

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Beijing

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Moscow

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Islamabad

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Washington County

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Council of the City of Sydney

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Breakdown