{"id":471963,"date":"2026-05-06T22:37:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T22:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/471963\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T22:37:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T22:37:11","slug":"david-zaslav-hbo-max-is-probably-our-most-important-asset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/471963\/","title":{"rendered":"David Zaslav: HBO Max Is ‘Probably’ Our ‘Most Important Asset’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDavid Zaslav<\/a> really loves HBO Max<\/a>. (You can go ahead and just forget about that whole \u201cMax\u201d era<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Wednesday, Zaslav called HBO Max \u201cprobably\u201d Warner Bros. Discovery<\/a>\u2018s \u201cmost important asset.\u201d It is streaming\u2019s unique ability to house entire TV and film libraries that, in his mind, places it above linear assets like HBO, CNN and the Turner Channels. The same goes for WBD\u2019s theatrical distribution business, which also ultimately serves as a feeder system for HBO Max.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo I guess that\u2019s what David Ellison is (mostly) paying $111 billion for.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne could very reasonably argue that Warner Bros. studios are actually a bit more valuable \u2014 the company\u2019s motion picture business is certainly its most iconic asset. (The studio lot is pretty cool too.) But it is actually WBD\u2019s linear networks business that still technically brings in the most money, and then studios, and then streaming. But the times, they are a-changing, and this cable cowboy \u2014 the prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of the actual cable cowboy John Malone, recognizes it.<\/p>\n

\n\tZaslav also said on Warner Bros. Discovery\u2019s first quarter 2026 earnings conference call that HBO Max was the \u201clynchpin\u201d of his \u201cambition\u201d to split the company into two, which would have served Netflix quite well but was unnecessary when Paramount Skydance came calling with a superior offer. The streamer is \u201cthe piece of the business that you will see will be a huge benefit to Paramount when our deal closes,\u201d Zaslav said. HBO Max has far more subscribers than Paramount+.<\/p>\n

\n\tWarner Bros. Discovery reported its first quarter 2026 earnings on Wednesday afternoon. Well, really, it reported its losses. WBD posted a loss of $2.9 billion in the March quarter<\/a>, but that could (mostly) be chalked up to the $2.8 billion it owed Netflix for dumping them in favor of Paramount\u2019s prettier offer. (Paramount Skydance is ultimately covering that cost.)<\/p>\n

\n\tThere was also $1.3 billion in other expenses, including restructuring charges (read: layoffs and severance pay) ahead of the Paramount takeover\u2019s expected third quarter 2026 closure.<\/p>\n

\n\tParamount Skydance reported its own first quarter earnings<\/a> on Monday. Ellison said the company is \u201cmaking great progress\u201d toward its Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Zaslav really loves HBO Max. (You can go ahead and just forget about that whole \u201cMax\u201d era.)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":[40337,18,117,7948,19,17,128,31461],"class_list":{"0":"post-471963","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-david-zaslav","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-hbo-max","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-tv","15":"tag-warner-bros-discovery"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}