WBD CEO David Zaslav Sees Company Split In April

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said he expects the planned separation of the company to be completed by April of 2026. It’s the most specific executives have been as to a timeline. The split of streaming and studios from global networks was anticipated to fall in the first half of the year.

“We expect sometime in April that the companies will be split,” he told investors at a Goldman Sachs media conference. “Everything’s on track.” There are no regulatory approvals required, noted in a Q&A touching on the dramatic turnaround at Warner. Bros. film studio, HBO Max’s ongoing international expansion and anticipated streaming price hikes, which Zaslav said will be a bigger focus for the company than a password sharing crackdown.

WBD formally announced in June it will split into two companies, following a similar announcement by Comcast, which intends to spin off NBCUniversal’s linear cable networks by year end.  company Of the new publicly traded entities, a renamed Warner Bros. will include Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, DC Studios, HBO and HBO Max, as well as the film and television libraries. 

Media networks, called Discovery Global, will house entertainment, sports and news television brands around the world including CNN, TNT Sports in the U.S., Discovery, top free-to-air channels across Europe, and digital products such as the profitable Discovery+ streaming service and Bleacher Report (B/R). 

Zaslav will serve as president and CEO of Warner Bros. and Gunnar Wiedenfels, current WBD CFO, of networks. The moves by both WBD and Comcast are separating out the high growth businesses from declining linear television. Zaslav acknowledged that linear entertainment aside from sports and new is really challenged but said the split will empower both companies with sharper focus and strategic flexibility to compete and pursue investments.

Focus for the standalone networks biz is key, he said. “You know, being able to really focus on these assets. What is Food Network in the future? How does CNN become a global business? How do we create a future on streaming for sports that really takes advantage of all the global sports that we have?”

“It’s a global, diversified business. Some of the businesses like free to air in Europe are doing really well. If there was a free to air channel trading at low multiples, when we’re one big company, would we buy a couple of those businesses and take advantage of the synergy and the fact that that may have a more sustainable, longer, more short future? Maybe not, because we figuring out how to re-bundle businesses that might be trading at 15, 20, 25 multiples. So I think they’ll be able to really focus on taking advantage of their assets, rebuilding them for the future, but also maybe buying some low multiple assets that could, you know, further further solidify their ability to generate a lot of free cash flow long into the future,” he said hinting at some M&A.

On password sharing Zaslav said, “We haven’t been pushing on the on the password sharing and the economics, yet. People are really starting to love HBO Max. That’s the key. We want them to fall in love with our content, with our series, with the differentiated offering outside the U.S., and then over time, you know — and it’s a little tricky with the with the password sharing — we’re going to begin to push on that.

“I think our ability to raise price as people become more and more in love with the quality that we have and the series that we have and the offering that we have” is a shorter term scenario, he said.

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