It’s no secret that Warner Bros. Discovery has been one of the most headache-inducing products of massive mergers in recent years (and competition in this space is fierce). From shelving completed movies entirely to reduce taxes to drunkenly renaming HBO Max as Max, Warner Bros. Discovery has had a rough time, and now, under the ruthless leadership of David Zaslav, the once-booming TV business has taken a huge hit as well.
I may not be good at numbers and market dynamics and stuff like that (if I were I wouldn’t be yammering on about pop culture on the internet) but I can tell when something is objectively fabricated and executives are just spouting nonsense through empty statements trying to keep the peace between hungry shareholders and investors, and the folks at Warner Bros. Discovery have been doing this for a while. It’s something you learn after a while.
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According to IndieWire, Warner Bros. Discovery’s television business, once a solid foundation for other businesses, is actually worth “$9.1 billion less than originally expected, resulting in a net loss of $10 billion in the second quarter of 2024.” Previously, people were generally disappointed with Warner Bros. Games’ recent financial performance and made large layoffs. Instead of being booed off the mountain by the company, Zaslav gave himself encouragement and more bonuses.
As noted before, the big decline in the company’s “Networks” division is a rather worrying sign, as this business unit has been holding the entire enterprise together while the film and streaming divisions are reorganized into other divisions. As for the uncertain future of Warner Bros. Games, there are current rumors (via the Financial Times) that some of Warner Bros. Discovery’s stake in the gaming business could be sold. At the moment, Zaslav seems to be running a clean-up company, rather than a well-run one.
Meanwhile, the company is blaming an uncertain market (which affects everyone else) and advertising issues, while ignoring blows like the loss of NBA broadcast rights. The “good news” is that the streamer added 3.6 million subscribers in the quarter, bringing the total to 103.3 million, but the division also lost $107 million, so expect further significant cuts soon.
However, Max’s late 2024 and early 2025 slate looks strong, and even without the upcoming DCU films, Warner Bros. Pictures’ theatrical performance this year has been pretty impressive (with quality crowd-pleasing movies), so this seems to be a case of executives scrambling and chasing fleeting cash cows that led to corporate bankruptcy, rather than a lack of quality output. Well, that’s exactly what happened.
