Warner Media/Discovery joint venture; thoughts and discussion

Well, talk about a rude Sunday Awakening. Bloomberg has dropped a major scoop that AT&T has been holding discussions with Discovery Communications (yes, that Discovery) for a possible joint venture that will better position it against Netflix, Disney, Amazon and the like. The deal is rumored to see AT&T spin out WarnerMedia's operations (WB, TNT/TBS, CNN, HBO, Cartoon Network, etc.) and combine them with Discovery's businesses (Discovery Channel, Food Network, Travel Channel, Animal Planet), with AT&T maintaining a stake of some sort, very similar to how AT&T "off-loaded" DirecTV a few months back. The talks are still ongoing but numerous subsequent reports suggest a deal could be announced this week.

There's a lot to digest here but my biggest takeaway is this: AT&T's media strategy has been an absolute failure. Between executives and creatives jumping ship, thousands of job losses and shedding off "noncore" assets to reduce debt load, AT&T had absolutely no idea what they were getting themselves into and now they want out ASAP. It also refutes Jason Kiliar's "strategic genius" accumen people have been branding him under.

It also goes to show how WB's day-to-date strategy was a big oopsie. Sure, they may be #1 at the box office right now, but does that mean anything if none of your movies are making a profit.

I'll let you guys be the judge and I'll keep you covered on this.

Edited by Mario1995 on May 16th 2021 at 2:03:16 PM

Being #1 also doesn't matter much if the industry is suffering. Which I think it still is.

Also, is this a merger or a partnership? The article wasn't entirely clear on that.

It's more like a merger, really.

In other words, AT&T will acquire Discovery, merge it with WM and spin the combined company off to a separate public company. AT&T gets no corporate ownership, though its shareholders will.

Edited by Mario1995 on May 16th 2021 at 4:16:30 AM

AT&T: "Yup, that's a fine looking monopoly. WHY DOESN'T MINE LOOK LIKE THAT?!"

OK,that got got a chuckle out of me

Is it too late for Discovery to not merge with them?

The deal could fall apart at the last minute but if not...tomorrow will break the DC/WB web forums.

Disney vs At&t in a war

AT&T lost....

Ummmm…Does AT&T really need Discovery? Because it feels like this will cause more harm than good.

Edited by TargetmasterJoe on May 17th 2021 at 6:52:34 AM

So wait, they'll buy Discovery but not own it? Their shareholders will? I'm confused.

Also, I don't see how AT&T going further into debt will help them at all.

Disney deserves a lot of shit but I'm tired of people parroting the idea they have a monopoly when they very clearly don't.

Edited by Karxrida on May 16th 2021 at 4:44:02 AM

I should've elaborated more on that. WarnerMedia, backed by AT&T, will combine with Discovery and AT&T will spin the combined company out to both companies' shareholders as a publicly traded company. AT&T is freeing up its debt by getting out of WM.

AT&T is spinning out WM, not adding to it. They won't have any more ownership of WM once the deal is done (though AT&T's shareholders will).

Speaking of, many inside WM are speechless.

Edited by Mario1995 on May 16th 2021 at 7:56:25 AM

It's not a matter of needing. They've been hemorrhaging money since the merger and Warner at present was basically a millstone around their neck. Spinning off those assets into a new joint company with Discovery takes some of the burden off while also possibly giving them a cash injection.

So, in short, AT&T is basically splitting off the WarnerMedia division? Which they went out of their way to buy only a couple years ago?

Edited by Karxrida on May 16th 2021 at 10:05:40 AM

Essentially, yes. But even at the time a number of people pointed out that buying a company when already 169 billion in debt was a questionable move at best.

Whatever gets the telecoms out of the media business is fine with me.

Well AT&T has been completely incompetent.

Maybe some new bosses will bode well for some of the franchises involved.

Speaking of!

Now official. The AT&T era of WarnerMedia is over.

Edited by Mario1995 on May 17th 2021 at 7:18:00 AM

Woof. How long did it last? Feels like it lasted 2-3 years, tops.

Soooo…think we'll have a rename coming like "WarnerDiscovery" or is "WarnerMedia" as a name is staying put?

Good question. My guess is it'll keep the WarnerMedia name, ultimately.

That being said, it's satisfying to see Kiliar getting Kicked Upstairs.

So I guess the WarnerMedia page needs to be updated.

Might start doing that later today.

I take it Jason Kilar is one of the major reasons why all of WB's 2021 films have gotten limited runs on HBO Max? I recall the general consensus boiled down to "Dude, WTF?!"

Actually, the more I think of this development, the more it gets funny. Not only is it a lot like how Disney+ features National Geographic content, but I recall an early episode of The Venture Bros. had one of the characters, Dr. Orpheus, saying that due to his remote vanishing from the material sphere, his TV was stuck on Animal Planet. Which is from Discovery. Which is now going to be in the same corporation.

Edited by TargetmasterJoe on May 17th 2021 at 7:46:00 AM

AT&T just uploaded a 46 minute overview of the merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery.

Edited by XMenMutant22 on May 17th 2021 at 12:32:43 PM

Translation: "Pay no attention to the fact that AT&T lost $42 billion!"