The Warner Bros. Divide: Who Gets What? How Much? What Will You Do? How Will You Get Your Next Media Closure?

Final names for the two companies weren’t given, so it’s not clear which will get the Warner Bros. brand. Zaslav will serve as President and CEO of Streaming and Studios, while WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels will be President and CEO of the Global Networks company. Both will continue in their current roles at WBD until the separation. Global Networks will get a 20 percent stake in the spinoff.

There will be a plan to continue building subscribers in countries around the world for Zaslav’s own streaming service while creating content for the bigger competitors, such as Disney and Amazon.

There is no other company that has touched so many people around the world with its stories over the past century. “It’s an important part of our history and will continue in this next chapter,” Zaslav said in announcing the split.

We are creating companies that are more efficient, more focused, and more flexible in order to give these brands the most flexibility to compete in a changing media landscape.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s history since has been marked by a series of moves to pay down that debt, including the killing of CNN’s nascent streaming service (which is just now being rebuilt), bids that failed to win renewal of NBA rights for Turner Sports, and layoffs at various properties.

The Deal Between CNN, WBD and AT&T: The Case of the Zaslav-Density-Based Acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery

The company has lost nearly half its market valuation since the merger, though shares bounced up by nearly 10% in the hours after Monday’s announcement. Zaslav had a compensation package valued at $52 million last year – making him one of the country’s highest-paid corporate chieftains, according to a study by Harvard Law School. (Shareholders voted against it in a symbolic vote.)

The transaction is contingent on the US Internal Revenue Service not objecting to it being free of taxes. In his first few months as president, President Trump has made clear that he’s willing to use non-partisan levers of government for political and ideological purposes.

Trump said he would try to get rid of the government’s contract with Tesla because of a public falling out with the company’s owner, Musk. In the case of Warner Bros. Discovery, Trump has repeatedly blasted CNN as unfair, partisan and “fake news.”

“These are two much smaller companies than the grand vision [Zaslav] anticipated when he bought the assets from AT&T,” former CNN US president Jonathan Klein tells NPR. Who buys each unit now that it’s small enough to be bought?

Several former television executives wondered if the new parent of MSNBC and CNBC would buy Warner Bros. Discovery’s cable channels. Or private equity investors intent on maximizing profits might decide to pick up Warner Bros. Discovery’s cable networks, Versant – or both.

The Financial Times reported in July 2024 that Zaslav was considering creating a new company to separate WBD’s streaming business from its legacy TV networks. WBD may be able to deal with those losses by splitting the company in two. WBD said that it’s taking out a $17.5 billion short-term loan to buy back some of its $37 billion debt ahead of the split. The majority of the debt will be placed under Global Networks, although the company didn’t specify how much would be placed against each company.