Warner Bros. Discovery, the media giant formed this year by the amalgamation of HBO and Animal Planet parent companies, said in its first public earnings report that it has 92.1 million subscribers to its streaming services, including HBO Max. said. Discovery+.
The announcement was made before Thursday’s investor conference call. During the conference call, Warner Bros. Discovery executives will provide Wall Street with an update on the company’s plans to combine video streaming services.
Warner Bros. Discovery has big challenges. The result of a combined spinoff of AT&T’s WarnerMedia division and Discovery, the company had $55 billion in debt when it went public in April. Chief Executive David Zaslav faces pressure to pay off that debt as he competes with giants like Netflix and Disney in a costly streaming war.
The company also faces expectations of cost cutting from Wall Street. Warner Bros. Discovery said it could save about $3 billion between the two companies.
Mr. Zaslav and his lieutenants have already done some work on that front. In April, one of their first moves was to shut down the CNN+ streaming service. This is the moonshot subscription product touted as a bridge to the future of networking. Zaslav told Wall Street he doesn’t think Warner Bros. Discovery will win the “spending wars.”
The race to dominate streaming TV
Months before Discovery took over Warner Bros. and HBO, Mr. Zaslav had something of a roadshow in Hollywood. His message seemed designed to reassure the skeptical film industry.
But since the deal closed, Zaslav and his deputies have made it clear that such talks have only gone so far.this week they Junk a nearly finished movie, “Batgirl” had a $90 million production budget that went to HBO Max.The move alienated movie upstarts filmmaker When Starbut Discovery determined that amortization – taking tax credits – was the most financially sensible route.
It is almost unheard of in the film industry for a nearly finished production to be discarded and never seen anywhere else, and it raises questions for the talent community. myself?
Zaslav said on a conference call with investors that the company will focus on attracting top storytellers for its TV and film businesses and curating the best shows and movies possible for its streaming service.
“It’s not about quantity,” Zaslav said. “It’s how good it is.”
Zaslav also said he plans to launch a free, ad-supported video service to complement existing streaming options.
Warner Bros. Discovery brings life to turbulent times for the media industry. As investors became more skeptical of the video-streaming business and the advertising market tightened, the company’s stock price fell about 30% from its initial price of about $24. Netflix’s stock fell about 36% over the same period, while Paramount’s stock fell about 30%. The S&P 500, the largest public company index, is down about 8%.
