bidding

For more than a century, Warner Bros has been one of Hollywood’s biggest players, a legacy studio that helped define the Golden Age of cinema with iconic blockbuster movies. Now, it’s at the centre of a contentious, billion-dollar bidding war between Netflix, the world’s leading streaming platform, and Paramount Skydance, owned by the powerful Ellison family, which has close ties to President Trump.

Whichever way this goes, the outcome isn’t looking great.

Contributors:
Matt Craig – Reporter, Forbes
Daheli Hall – Writer and director
Lee Hepner – Antitrust lawyer
Dominic Patten – Executive editor, Deadline

On our radar

This week, Australia became the first country in the world to impose a social media ban for children less than the age of 16. The Australian government says it is taking on Big Tech and safeguarding children, but some young people were able to quickly bypass the new rules. Ryan Kohls reports.

The Imran Khan rumour mill

Despite being in jail for more than two years, Imran Khan continues to occupy airtime in Pakistan. After the army restricted access to Khan, rumours of his death ricocheted across social media.  Pressure from his supporters and family forced the military to lift the restrictions and grant Khan’s sisters access to speak to him. Meenakshi Ravi reports on the showdown between Imran Khan and powerful Field Marshal Asim Munir, and what it reveals about power, politics and narrative control in Pakistan.

Featuring: 
Amber Rahim Shamsi – Pakistan Editor, Nukta
Moeed Pirzada – Political YouTuber
Mohammed Hanif – Author and journalist

Russia’s Lukoil has until December 13 to negotiate the sale of most of its international assets following U. S. sanctions and the rejection of Swiss buyer Gunvor. Lukoil’s international assets, which include oil and gas ventures, refining, and over 2,000 gas stations across various regions, are valued at around $22 billion, and any deals must be approved by the U. S. Treasury.

Potential buyers for Lukoil’s assets include major U. S. oil companies like Exxon Mobil and Chevron, the Abu Dhabi International Holding Company, Austrian investor Bernd Bergmair, Hungary’s MOL, and U. S. private equity firm Carlyle.

Lukoil’s significant upstream operations in the Middle East include a 75% stake in Iraq’s West Qurna 2 oilfield and a 60% stake in Iraq’s Block 10 development. In Egypt, the company holds stakes in various oilfields alongside local partners. In the UAE, Lukoil has a 10% stake in the Ghasha gas development. In Central Asia, Lukoil owns portions of important oil and gas projects in Kazakhstan and operates fields in Uzbekistan.

In Africa and Latin America, Lukoil holds interests in several offshore oil blocks in Ghana, Congo, Nigeria, and Mexico.

Lukoil also possesses refining assets, including the Neftohim Burgas refinery in Bulgaria, which is the largest in the Balkans. The Bulgarian government has made moves to potentially seize and sell these assets. The U. S. Treasury has allowed some transactions involving Lukoil’s Bulgarian refinery until April 29, 2026. In Romania, Lukoil owns the Petrotel refinery and has about 300 gas stations, with companies reportedly interested in purchasing these assets.

For fuel retail, the U. S. Treasury extended the deadline for transactions involving Lukoil’s gas stations outside Russia to April 29, 2026. Despite this, Lukoil’s Finnish subsidiary Teboil has filed for restructuring and anticipates selling its petrol stations. The Romanian government is also moving to take control of Lukoil’s assets in the country. Lukoil operates around 200 gas stations in the U. S.

U. S. sanctions are dismantling Lukoil’s trading arm, Litasco, causing significant layoffs in its offices worldwide.

With information from Reuters