It wasn’t that long ago that Warner Bros. and Discovery merged created a weird blob of a company that never quite seemed to get its act together. And now, the mega company is splitting into two companies again with the streaming and studios being one company and the TV and cable assets being another with all of this expected to wrap up in 2026.
Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, DC Studios, HBO, and HBO Max, plus respective film and television libraries will be under a new “Streaming and Studios” company headed by current WBD CEO David Zaslav. “Global Networks” will be entertainment, sports, news television brands like CNN, Bleacher Report, TNT Sports, and more with WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels as President and CEO of the Global Networks. The Global Networks will receive a 20% stake in the Streaming and Studios spinoff. The branding of the two is unknown though guesses are “Warner Bros.” and “Discovery.” The two companies will be independently-operated and publicly-traded.
Though it has not been named specifically, it’s believed that DC Comics will go to the “Streaming and Studios” company joining DC Studios. Zaslav in an investment call said there was a ten-year plan for DC (though it did not specify if that was for the movies, comics, or both).
The belief is the split is meant to deal with losses and debt of the current company which stands at about $37 billion. It will take out a $17.5 billion short-term loan to buy back some of that debt. The majority of the debt will fall under the Global Networks. The 2022 merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery, Inc. created more than $50 billion in debt.
The move follows other similar moves like Comcast spinning off most of NBCUniversal cable networks into a separate company called Versant and Lions Gate Entertainment separating Starz cable network from its film and television studio in May.
Last week, about 59% of WBD shareholders voted against executive pay packages in a symbolic criticism of the company’s leadership.
The spin-offs are believed to be a move for consolidation down the road (it was just two years ago there were rumors of Warner Bros. Discovery merging with Paramount). Others have said that moves like this are “paper solutions” to make it look like things are being done but don’t really resolve issues with the current entertainment environment like fracturing viewership and the mounting subscription services.
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Source: Graphic Policy
