WB Discovery CEO David Zaslav hosted a starry dinner at his Beverly Hills home, hours before he flew to New York to field early bids for the company.

Netflix, Paramount and Comcast submitted bids to acquire the Hollywood colossus, which owns the Warner Bros. movie studio, HBO, and cable networks like CNN and TNT, four people with knowledge of the proposals said. The outcome of the sale could alter the trajectory of the entertainment business.

The submissions meet a Nov. 20 deadline for a first round of bids set by the board of Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent of HBO, CNN and the Warner Bros. movie and TV studios

Earlier mergers, like Disney's 2019 acquisition of Fox, cut the number of films studios released theatrically — a troubling trend for theater owners already coping with consolidation and streaming.

Warner Bros. has been in the news a lot this week – not because they have a big new movie coming out, but because the whole studio is up for sale. Hopefully they warn any potential buyers about the pest situation in the water tower.

Methinks there’s plenty of smoke to the notion. Deadline reported a visit and pledge of $1 trillion from controversial Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohamad Bin Salman and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts coincidentally recently (wink wink) visited Saudi Arabia, according to the New York Post.

Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Richard Blumenthal wrote in a letter that any deal for WBD could create a company that "would have even more market power than the current companies to raise consumers’ television costs.