Warner/Discovery

[John1701D]

Originally Posted by chip75

Hopefully we can get WarnerMediaDiscovery, then we'll know where those WMDs are ...

[CyberpunkCentral]

[Rodney-2187]

John Oliver vs at&t compilation - YouTube

[albertbj]

Originally Posted by Rodney-2187

John Oliver vs at&t compilation - YouTube

One of the first things to pop into my head when I heard about this was, "John Oliver is getting a new 'Business Daddy'!"

[HockeySlasher]

Originally Posted by albertbj

One of the first things to pop into my head when I heard about this was, "John Oliver is getting a new 'Business Daddy'!"

How many 90 day fiancé jokes will he and the writers through in there now...

[DukeTogo84]

So I'm a bit confused here. Is Discovery part of AT&T and just merging parts of their empire or is AT&T selling Warner to Discovery?

[mwynn]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

So I'm a bit confused here. Is Discovery part of AT&T and just merging parts of their empire or is AT&T selling Warner to Discovery?

It is a merger with AT&T keeping controlling interest.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by mwynn

It is a merger with AT&T keeping controlling interest.

Oh I see. The way I thought I read it was that AT&T was selling WB to Discovery and Discovery would merge with WB to form something new. So AT&T still has a stake in WB then it seems.

[mwynn]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

Oh I see. The way I thought I read it was that AT&T was selling WB to Discovery and Discovery would merge with WB to form something new. So AT&T still has a stake in WB then it seems.

Yes but it will be a new company with a new CEO.

[Jumpman]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

Oh I see. The way I thought I read it was that AT&T was selling WB to Discovery and Discovery would merge with WB to form something new. So AT&T still has a stake in WB then it seems.

They do but they’re not going to be running day to day operations. This new entertainment company will be run by the CEO of Discovery.

[CyberpunkCentral]

Originally Posted by mwynn

Yes but it will be a new company with a new CEO.

New company in what sense. though?

[mwynn]

Originally Posted by CyberpunkCentral

New company in what sense. though?

We shall see, I would think there will be a rebranded eventually.

[DukeTogo84]

So AT&T is basically trusting Discovery to handle everything, while AT&T still own WB, but don't they own Discovery correct? Sorry for the questions, but I don't know much of how this works.

[mwynn]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

So AT&T is basically trusting Discovery to handle everything, while AT&T still own WB, but don't they own Discovery correct? Sorry for the questions, but I don't know much of how this works.

No Discovery is a separate entity. Advance Publications is the primary stake holder at 31%

This is a sale without calling it a sale.

AT&T is bailing, they owe a lot of money and the markers are coming due. They needed to unload Warner before it got worse.

[CyberpunkCentral]

[kemcha]

What gets me is that AT&T paid more than $100b for WarnerMedia and they're selling it for around $43b? Did AT&T keep some of the assets? Because, to me, the math doesn't add up. I just find it hard to believe that AT&T would sell off WarnerMedia at an over 50% loss over what they paid for it. I expected AT&T to sell at a partial loss but over 50%? It just sounds to me that AT&T didn't really think the purchase through and had no idea what they were doing in the first place.

[mwynn]

Originally Posted by kemcha

What gets me is that AT&T paid more than $100b for WarnerMedia and they're selling it for around $43b? Did AT&T keep some of the assets? Because, to me, the math doesn't add up. I just find it hard to believe that AT&T would sell off WarnerMedia at an over 50% loss over what they paid for it. I expected AT&T to sell at a partial loss but over 50%? It just sounds to me that AT&T didn't really think the purchase through and had no idea what they were doing in the first place.

After three years they made no traction. Because of some bad ideas and covid the hole was getting bigger. Their options were to get out now, or suffer more losses which could have been more damaging.

[Lee A Stewart]

Why Is AT&T Dumping HBO Max & DIRECTV?

Frankie, first of all, AT&T is not selling off DIRECTV, or Warner Media, the company that includes HBO and the Turner cable networks (TNT, TBS, CNN, Cartoon Network, etc). The telco is selling a minority stake in each which allows AT&T to keep control of both entities.

(In AT&T’s deal for DIRECTV, it will keep 70 percent of the satcaster while private equity firm, TPG, will assume 30 percent ownership. In the company’s merger with Discovery, which was announced today, AT&T will keep 71 percent with Discovery taking 29 percent.)

https://tvanswerman.com/2021/05/17/w...o-max-directv/

[mwynn]

but what at&t is doing in both transactions is turning over operational control of both directv and warner media to other companies. Tpg is expected to wield significant influence over the new directv while discovery ceo david zaslav will become the chief of the new warner media/discovery company when the deal closes, likely sometime next year.

that is why at&t has taken both actions. The telco has finally conceded that it’s simply not good at running media companies.

yes, at&t paid $49 billion for directv and $85 billion for time warner with ambitious announcements accompanying both that said they would revolutionize the industry. But six years after the directv deal, at&t has lost more than 10 million directv and u-verse customers. And three years after the time warner transaction, hbo max, the unit’s highest-profile service, still trails netflix and disney+ (and others) largely because of self-inflicted errors. (hbo max’s first year was plagued by carriage disputes with roku and amazon’s fire tv, and consumer confusion over multiple hbo-named services, including hbo now and hbo go.)

with the tpg and discovery moves, at&t can still use directv and the warner media properties to boost its telecommunications business. (at&t currently offers free hbo max with new directv subscriptions, and expanded phone service.). But it doesn’t have to worry about running them. (or, perhaps i should say, running them into the ground.) the company also will get some debt relief with each deal, another significant reason for the deals.

[CyberpunkCentral]

I'm confused.