WarnerMedia and Discovery Officially Close Their Multibillion Dollar Merger
The multibillion dollar merger between US media giants Discovery and WarnerMedia has officially closed.
It was announced in May 2021 that Discovery and AT&T-owned WarnerMedia had reached a definitive agreement to combine their respective media businesses. This will include the Discovery+ and HBO Max streaming platforms being merged into one offering, with the intent of rivaling other global players such as Netflix and Disney+.
The newly created standalone global media and entertainment company will be called Warner Bros Discovery, Inc (WBD). It will start trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange from 11th April. David Zaslav (pictured above) will lead the new business, which unveiled its full leadership team last week.
Upon announcement of the agreement last May, WBD was projected to hit revenue of US$52 billion in 2023 and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of US$14 billion. The company will own nearly 200,000 hours of programming, offering content to subscribers across WarnerMedia and Discovery’s portfolio.
