Warner Bros. Discovery is splitting into two separate publicly traded companies – one oriented around the HBO Max streaming service and Warner Bros. studio, and the other around CNN and other television networks.
The first company, known for now as “Streaming & Studios,” will be led by CEO David Zaslav, and the second company, “Global Networks,” will be led by CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels.
“The separation aims to provide each company with greater strategic flexibility and focus,” the company said in a statement.
Warner Bros. Discovery intends for the corporate breakup to take effect by mid-2026.
Monday’s announcement is Warner Bros. Discovery’s answer to investor pressure and intensive industry-wide change. As the cable television business contracts in the streaming era, Zaslav is offering shareholders a way to invest in the growing HBO Max part of the business without exposure to cable.
That said, the networks that are part of the second company continue to boast strong profits and global audiences.
“This evolution isn’t a departure from our strategy — to deploy Max globally, optimize our global networks and return our Studios to industry leadership — it’s about unlocking the full potential of two strong businesses,” Zaslav told staffers in an internal memo. “Each has a distinct focus, a clear mission, and the scale to succeed on its own terms.”
The breakup comes only three years after the combination of Discovery and the old Time Warner took effect to great fanfare. Shares in Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) have fallen by about half since then. The company’s stock rose more than 10% in premarket trading Monday.
Monday’s breakup announcement had been expected because Warner Bros. Discovery has spent the last six months restructuring itself with an eye toward a split. Comcast is currently going through its own version, though that one is structured as a spinoff of cable assets rather than a split into two publicly traded companies.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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