Discovery and AT&T close deal with WarnerMedia


By MYBRANDBOOK


Discovery and AT&T close deal with WarnerMedia

Discovery and AT&T have closed their transaction to combine the WarnerMedia business with Discovery. The combination creates a premier standalone global media and entertainment company, Warner Bros. Discovery, under the new ticker symbol ‘WBD’.

 

Under terms of the agreement, AT&T received $40.4 billion in cash and WarnerMedia’s retention of certain debt. As a result, AT&T shareholders received 1.7 billion shares of WBD, representing 71% of WBD shares on a fully diluted basis. Discovery’s existing shareholders own the remainder of the new company.

 

Warner Bros Discovery will create and distribute the world’s most differentiated and complete portfolio of content, brands and franchises across television, film and streaming. The combination of the two companies will strengthen WarnerMedia’s established and leading position in media and streaming.

 

The new company combines WarnerMedia’s premium entertainment, sports and news assets with Discovery’s leading non-fiction and international entertainment and sports businesses, including Discovery Channel, discovery+, Warner Bros. Entertainment, CNN, CNN+, DC, Eurosport, HBO, HBO Max, HGTV, Food Network, Investigation Discovery, TLC, TNT, TBS, truTV, Travel Channel, MotorTrend, Animal Planet, Science Channel, New Line Cinema, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies and others.

 

Commenting on the merger, David Zaslav, Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Executive Officer, said, “Today’s announcement marks an exciting milestone not just for Warner Bros. Discovery but for our shareholders, our distributors, our advertisers, our creative partners and, most importantly, consumers globally. With our collective assets and diversified business model, Warner Bros. Discovery offers the most differentiated and complete portfolio of content across film, television and streaming. We are confident that we can bring more choice to consumers around the globe while fostering creativity and creating value for shareholders.”

 

John Stankey, AT&T Chief Executive Officer, said, “With the close of this transaction, we expect to invest at record levels in our growth areas of 5G and fiber, where we have strong momentum, while we work to become America’s best broadband company. In WarnerMedia, Discovery inherits a talented and innovative team and a dynamic growing and global company that is well positioned to lead the transformation that’s taking place across media and entertainment, direct-to-consumer distribution and technology. We look forward to seeing what the WBD team accomplishes with these industry-leading assets.”

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