11-03-2022, 07:06 PM
After 10 months of the announcement from AT&T and Discovery of the spin-off of WarnerMedia from AT&T and its merger under Discovery, it is finally happening. Today, Discovery's shareholders approved the final hurdle needed to create the second-largest media company in the world, after The Walt Disney Company and overtaking Paramount Global. The merger, a Reverse Morris Trust, will be structured as a 71%/29% venture between AT&T and Discovery shareholders, respectively, and AT&T will receive US$43 billion in cash and debt as part of the merger, as part of John Stankey's massive reorganization plans to restructure the finances of the telco, after a rocky period with Randall Stephenson at the helm (which included its acquisition of then-Time Warner). Discovery is also looking for additional investment to receive an additional US$15 billion dollars in debt.
https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/discove...235201881/
The combined company will have Discovery CEO David Zaslav as CEO and Chairman, with current WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar leaving the company altogether. The company will be switching to a streaming-first approach like most of its competitors, but Zaslav said that the company plans a more wise investment in content, with spending being restricted to around US$10 billion in place of the current US$20 billion both companies spend on content. The result is a plan to compete in the streaming wars in a much more profitable way, even if the group has three streaming services: HBO Max, Discovery+ and the upcoming CNN+. The group plans to bundle all three of the services in the run-up of a possible merger to create a super-OTT platform.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/busine...235097386/
The company also will have a grand portfolio of global brands: Adult Swim, All3Media (JV with Liberty Global), Alloy Entertainment, Animal Planet, Bleacher Report, Boomerang, Cartoon Network, Cartoonito, Cinemax, CNN Worldwide, The CW (with Paramount), DC Comics, Discovery Channel, Discovery Family (with Hasbro/eOne), the DMAX network, DKISS (Spain), Eurosport, Eve (Asia), Fatafeat (MENA), HBO, HGTV, HLN, Investigation Discovery, Food Network (with Nexstar), Grupa TVN Discovery (Poland), Joyn (Germany, with ProSiebenSat.1 Media), the Magnolia Network (with Chip and Joanna Gaines), Megamedia (Chile, with the Bethia company), Motor Trend (with Source Interlink), OWN (with Harpo Studios), Quest, Really, Rooster Teeth, the Science Channel, TBS, Tele 5 (Germany), TLC, TNT, Three (New Zealand), TruTV, Travel Channel, Turner Classic Movies, Turner Sports, Warner Bros., and Warner TV Europe, among many other brands.
As told in the Variety report, the merger is set to be completed in mid-April.
(EDIT 2022/04/08: Merger is being completed, the thread has been renamed to reflect the milestone).
https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/discove...235201881/
The combined company will have Discovery CEO David Zaslav as CEO and Chairman, with current WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar leaving the company altogether. The company will be switching to a streaming-first approach like most of its competitors, but Zaslav said that the company plans a more wise investment in content, with spending being restricted to around US$10 billion in place of the current US$20 billion both companies spend on content. The result is a plan to compete in the streaming wars in a much more profitable way, even if the group has three streaming services: HBO Max, Discovery+ and the upcoming CNN+. The group plans to bundle all three of the services in the run-up of a possible merger to create a super-OTT platform.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/busine...235097386/
The company also will have a grand portfolio of global brands: Adult Swim, All3Media (JV with Liberty Global), Alloy Entertainment, Animal Planet, Bleacher Report, Boomerang, Cartoon Network, Cartoonito, Cinemax, CNN Worldwide, The CW (with Paramount), DC Comics, Discovery Channel, Discovery Family (with Hasbro/eOne), the DMAX network, DKISS (Spain), Eurosport, Eve (Asia), Fatafeat (MENA), HBO, HGTV, HLN, Investigation Discovery, Food Network (with Nexstar), Grupa TVN Discovery (Poland), Joyn (Germany, with ProSiebenSat.1 Media), the Magnolia Network (with Chip and Joanna Gaines), Megamedia (Chile, with the Bethia company), Motor Trend (with Source Interlink), OWN (with Harpo Studios), Quest, Really, Rooster Teeth, the Science Channel, TBS, Tele 5 (Germany), TLC, TNT, Three (New Zealand), TruTV, Travel Channel, Turner Classic Movies, Turner Sports, Warner Bros., and Warner TV Europe, among many other brands.
As told in the Variety report, the merger is set to be completed in mid-April.
(EDIT 2022/04/08: Merger is being completed, the thread has been renamed to reflect the milestone).