LEAD STORY
Warner Media and Discovery Merge To Form Warner Bros. Discovery
We’re back sort of…This is a special edition of the Coverage Notes newsletter where this week we’ll recap the one big story that broke during the month of May and that was the surprise merger of AT&T’s WarnerMedia with Discovery Inc. to form, pending regulatory approval, wait for it…Warner Bros. Discovery.
This merger was such a surprise that it caught WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar off guard, as he was excluded from merger discussions which were held by AT&T CEO John Stankey and Discovery CEO David Zaslav.
These discussions began in February when Zaslav reached out to Stankey via e-mail and suggested the merger…to make the deal even more appealing Zalsav used emojis in the opening email.
Over the course of the following weeks, Stankey would travel to New York City from Dallas and meet with Zaslav at his brownstone and the two of them and a few confidants secretly hammered out a deal that sees AT&T owning 71% of the new company with Discovery owning the remaining 29%.
Despite owning fewer shares Discovery still comes out looking good in this deal as Zaslav would be at the helm of the new combined company and not Kilar. For his part, Kilar is being a good sport about this and has indicated that he will be with the company until next year at the very least when the merger should pass federal regulatory approval.
The folks at WarnerMedia will have to, unfortunately, endure another merger after going through an exhausting one that closed in 2018. Sadly, this means that they will be subjected to yet another round of layoffs as divisions are combined and streamlined. This is not comforting news to hear but this is what happens when companies go through mergers with cutting employees being the easiest way to manage costs.
For those keeping score this will be merger number five in WarnerMedia’s storied history. Warner Communication and Time Inc. merged to form Time Warner in 1989; this was followed by Time Warner merging with Turner Broadcasting in 1996; then came the disastrous merger with AOL in 2001 to form AOL Time Warner, and finally the merger with AT&T to form WarnerMedia in 2017.
Once the merger is completed there will be a whole lot of stuff for Zaslav and his new team to figure out when it comes to the various pieces under their purview. What happens to their streaming services HBO Max and Discovery Plus will be of particular interest —will they keep both or kill one?
As we enter a new phase of mega consolidation all eyes are now turning to the smaller media conglomerates ViacomCBS and Fox Corp. Will they be gobbled up by Apple, Google, Netflix, or even NBCUniversal? We will soon find out.
(Axios, Reuters, New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Wikipedia, AdWeek, Wall Street Journal)
QUICK RECAP: The WarnerMedia-Discovery Edition
The latest media landscape map. (Vox)
How the WarnerMedia-Discovery deal came to be. (Variety)
How the WarnerMedia-Discovery deal came to be. (Financial Times)
Some questions about the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger. (Vulture)
What does the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger mean for sports streaming? (Sportico)
With the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger, AT&T’s John Stankey undoes his former boss’s work. (CNBC)
Streaming rivals put on notice with the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger. (Reuters)
More megamergers forecasted after the WarnerMedia-Discovery deal. (Axios)
How will David Zaslav rule Warner Bros. Discovery? (The Hollywood Reporter)
Before agreeing to run WarnerMedia Jason Kilar was approached by Amazon. (Business Insider $$$)
CNN avoids a sale with WarnerMedia-Discovery tie-up. (Bloomberg)
CNN avoids a sale with WarnerMedia-Discovery tie-up. (The Hollywood Reporter)
With the WarnerMedia - Discovery merger, CNN chief Jeff Zucker’s options are looking much better now. (NBC News)
With the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger, CNN chief Jeff Zucker’s options are looking much better now. (New York Times)
WarnerMedia’s Jason Kilar may be exiting the company. (MediaPost)
Discovery upfront: network says more content, wider reach. (MediaPost)
David Zaslav signs a contract extension that runs till 2027. (Axios)
The brownstone where the WarnerMedia-Discovery deal was made is for sale. (The Hollywood Reporter)
WarnerMedia-Discovery expects $15 billion in revenue from its direct-to-consumer operations in its first-year post-merger. (MediaPost)
Profile: Discovery’s David Zaslav will now be in charge of HBO. (Wall Street Journal $$$)
CNN and Rick Santorum part ways. (HuffPost)
CNN’s Amy Entilis on what the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger means for her and her team. (TVNewser)
How John Stankey led AT&T the wrong way. (New York Post)
David Zaslav believes they can reach 400 million streaming subscribers. (CNBC)
WarnerMedia-Discovery deal crafted to make a future sale much easier. (CNBC)
Warner Bros. Discovery must increase its content offerings to remain competitive. (MediaPost)
After dumping WarnerMedia, AT&T will focus on being a telecom company once again. (Bloomberg $$$)
Hockey great Wayne Gretzky joins Turner Sports. (The Spun)
HBO Max to showcase its original programming on TNT and TBS. (The Desk)
Discovery’s John Malone says Comcast was interested in acquiring WarnerMedia. (CNBC)
CNN will not discipline Chris Cuomo after his latest snafu. (Los Angeles Times)
What will happen to Bleacher Report after the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger? (The Information $$$)
CNN is turning its 5 Things into a franchise. (Digiday)
Discovery’s David Zaslav is described as a demanding boss. (Business Insider $$$)
CNN’s Jeff Zucker says it was a mistake for Chris Cuomo to confer with his brother’s advisers. (The Daily Beast)
CNN’s Jeff Zucker says he hasn’t thought about his future with the company after the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger. (Jeremy Barr/Twitter)
HBO Chief Casey Bloys’ thoughts on the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger. (Variety)
Ad version of HBO Max launches. (Deadline)
How will WarnerMedia incorporate news and sports into HBO Max? (Variety)
CNN is all systems go on a streaming service. (Washington Post)
CNN is looking to dominate in the podcasting space. (Vulture)
Normal service resumes next week.
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A MarkHenry Media LLC publication - issue #58 - 2021