Warner Bros Discovery’s Upcoming Division
Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) is expected to produce two new acquisition prospects and will redeem its position in the US media landscape in a time of M&A activities. In a call with analysts, WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels said that the separate companies were "free and clear" for M&A talks without waiting as soon as they are divided.
Separation Plans
The company will be separated into streaming & studios and global networks by mid-2026, subject to certain conditions and the approval of the WBD Board of Directors. This separation is effectively a repeat of the 2022 merger of USD 43 billion between Warnermedia and Discovery, with the net result that the former owner of Warnermedia, AT&T, sold its media stocks.
Impact on the Media Landscape
The announcement is the most recent example of a media company recognizing that its linear television business is not its desired growth area, and instead, is focusing on streaming. This move has led to speculation about potential buyers, with Apple being one of the suggested companies. The WBD share has fallen by about 60% since the fusion in 2022, and after announcing the separation, the share price fell by almost 3% after completing the market.
Advantages of Separation
"We believe that the advantages of separation to two scaled companies will really give us a lot more strategic flexibility for the future," said David Zaslav, CEO of WBD. Both Zaslav and Wiedenfels, each of whom will run streaming & studios and global networks, said they had removed about 5 billion USD in "non-content" costs in the past three years. Wiedenfels has submitted several rounds of discharge, especially in the cable television business, and said that both independent companies "will continue to be very much geared towards efficiency".
Streaming and Studios
The executive said that global networks are kept up to 20% of streaming & studios in order to "improve the path of the trigger for global networks". Zaslav made it clear that an important sales driver at streaming & studios is streamed and found: "The film business is probably the smallest part; it is very much hit." Zaslav is aware of "unused" IP and wants the film group Mike de Luca and Pam Abdy Co-heads with the large brands that give us a real advantage on the market.
Upcoming Projects
Zaslav stays with the IP topic and continued: “We are very happy about Superhuman [James Gunn’s reboot opens on July 11]. We are almost wrapped Super girl. There is a great plan for DC, a 10-year plan. Warner Bros had three consecutive hits and we are distributed F1 In the next two weeks [in a partnership with Apple]. We really like the film business. We think it is important to have these films. We also have the A24 films in HBO Max, and we have real discipline and we have confidence in this business, but it is probably the more difficult business in terms of margin and swings."
HBO Max and Local Sports
Zaslav added that "the secret sauce together with local sports is the highest quality content and the highest library. This will be our global recipe." At another point in the call, Zaslav said: "We have put ‘HBO’ back in [to HBO Max] For one reason – people see us as the highest streaming service of the highest quality. We have the highest quality film and TV library and the entire HBO content. We have the ability with Warner Bros Television to expand what we did The pictures And we’ll do it Harry Potter."
Harry Potter Series
The Harry Potter series is scheduled to start production this summer in the Warner Bros Studios Leavesden, and WBD announced an area of Casting on Monday. The show is expected to have HBO Max Premiere in 2026. Zaslav said the platform would start in Great Britain & Ireland, Germany and Italy in early 2026.
Warner Bros Television Group
Regardless of this, the chairman and CEO of Warner Bros Television Group, Channing Dungey, spread an internal memo to say that it will remain at streaming & studios after separation.
