Deal Dispatch: Warner Bros., Bill.com, C3 AI—Key Auctions And Buyouts Shake The Market
Author: Anthony Noto | November 14, 2025 03:34pm
New On The Block
- An auction is underway for Bill.com (NYSE:BILL). The business-payments firm, according to Bloomberg, tapped a financial adviser to solicit bids. The sale follows activist pressure from Starboard Value, a firm known for buying up stakes in public companies to get deal processes going.
- C3 AI (NYSE:AI) is also for sale. The decision comes on the heels of CEO Tom Siebel‘s resignation due to health concerns. Reuters first broke the news. Stephen Ehikian replaced Siebel in the top role.
- London-based real estate investor Quadrum Global hired Moelis & Co. and Eastdil Secured to field offers for boutique lodging chain Arlo Hotels and its underlying real estate assets.
Updates From The Block
- Clayton Dubilier & Rice is considering a takeover of Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE), the Charlotte-based packaging firm behind Bubble Wrap and Instapak. A potential deal could trigger wider M&A activity if Sealed Air's food and protective packaging units are split up. The company, valued at $5.35 billion, saw its stock jump over 20% on the news. Sealed Air previously sold several divisions to Bain Capital for $3.2 billion in 2017. The move reflects a broader trend of private equity returning to industrial and service-sector deals after years focused on tech, per the Wall Street Journal.
- Dayforce‘s (NYSE:DAY) stockholders approved an acquisition offer from private equity firm Thoma Bravo on Nov. 12. They will receive $70 per share in cash. The transaction is expected to close in late 2025 or early 2026.
- Paramount Skydance (NASDAQ:PSKY), Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA), and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) are preparing bids for Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD). Nonbinding first-round offers are due November 20, according to the Wall Street Journal. Paramount’s latest bid values Warner Bros. at $23.50 per share, nearly 90% above the pre-bid stock price. Comcast and Netflix want Warner Bros.' movie and TV studios and the HBO Max streaming service, excluding cable assets such as CNN, TNT, and the Discovery Channel. Warner Bros. Discovery is conducting the auction in hopes of completing the process by year-end.
- Blackstone (NYSE:BX) wants to buy a majority stake in Mumbai, India-based cloud infrastructure firm Neysa Networks. SoftBank is considering a minority position, per Bloomberg.
- Private-equity firm Clearlake Capital Group is acquiring investment manager Pathway Capital Management for nearly $1 billion. The Wall Street Journal expects the move to roughly double Clearlake's assets under management to $185 billion. Based in Irvine, Calif., Pathway manages about $95 billion in assets, primarily for institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals. The acquisition positions Clearlake just below the top 10 private-equity firms by assets.
- Permira, a private equity firm, wants to sell luxury sneaker maker Golden Goose. It bought a majority stake in 2020 from Carlyle. HongShan Capital Group is interested. Reuters has the deal at about $3 billion.
- Reuters also provided an update on the Castrol lubricants unit of BP (NYSE:BP). One Rock and Stonepeak both submitted offers.
- Montreal-based Stingray Group (TSX:RAY) is paying $175 million to acquire San Francisco-based streaming radio service TuneIn.
Off The Block
- Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) closed its acquisition of Metsera, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTSR), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company accelerating medicines for obesity and cardiometabolic diseases. The deal ends a dramatic back-and-forth with Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO).
- That’s not all for Pfizer. The pharma giant is also seeking to sell its remaining 4.55 million shares in the listed German vaccine maker BioNTech. The price tag could be $500 million.
Bankruptcy Block
Purdue Pharma won court approval to exit bankruptcy, ending six years of litigation over its multibillion-dollar opioid settlement and the Sackler family’s liability releases. Purdue's Chapter 11 plan provides an estimated $7.4 billion to address nationwide opioid harm.
The deal was renegotiated after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2024 struck down a prior version that granted the Sacklers broad legal immunity. Under the revised plan, the family will contribute about $6.5 billion over 15 years.
Most of the funds will support opioid abatement initiatives, with roughly $850 million earmarked for individuals and families. Purdue's assets will be transferred to a new public-benefit company, Knoa Pharma, focused on addiction treatment and overdose-reversal drugs.
Purdue filed for bankruptcy in 2019 amid more than 2,600 lawsuits tied to OxyContin and faced over $40 trillion in creditor claims. The company pleaded guilty in 2020 to federal conspiracy and fraud charges related to its opioid marketing.
For the previous edition of Deal Dispatch, click here.
Now Read
Image: Edited by Benzinga using Shutterstock
Posted In: AI BILL BP BX CMCSA CWAN DAY MC MTSR NFLX NVO PFE PH PSKY RAY SEE TSX:RAY WBD
