"The entertainment conglomerate, formed three years ago when Warner Media spun off from AT&T and merged with Discovery, Inc., announced plans this past summer to split back into two separate companies. Its functional studio and streaming arm, the source of the publicly traded company's value as a security, would thus be unshackled from its network TV business, which still generates a ton of cash but is a declining in value (as evinced by WBD's $9 billion write-down of its TV properties)."
"However, those plans changed in September when Larry and David Ellison entered the fray. In August, the Ellison family formally took over the Paramount conglomerate in an $8 billion deal, completing a process that lagged on for a year and only got done after Donald Trump's FCC extracted a bunch of concessions from the newly formed Paramount Skydance. Shortly before formally buying the Free Press for $150 million-empowering Bari Weiss"
Warner Bros. Discovery planned to split its value-generating studio and streaming arm from its network TV business to isolate assets and place $38 billion of debt in the TV company. The network TV division still produces substantial cash but faces declining value, evidenced by a $9 billion write-down of TV properties. The Ellison family entered the acquisition picture after acquiring Paramount for $8 billion and purchasing the Free Press for $150 million, moves that consolidated significant media influence. WBD began "reviewing all options" following unsolicited interest and had rejected multiple bids, including offers from Paramount.
Read at Defector
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]