{"id":170507,"date":"2025-06-09T14:56:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T14:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/170507\/"},"modified":"2025-06-09T14:56:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T14:56:12","slug":"most-of-wbd-debt-to-go-with-tv-networks-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/170507\/","title":{"rendered":"Most of WBD Debt to Go With TV Networks Company"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s safe to assume that the majority\u201d of Warner Bros. Discovery<\/a>\u2019s roughly $37 billion in debt load will exist with the spun off Global Networks<\/a>, the new company\u2019s new president and CEO Gunnar Wiedenfels<\/a> said on Monday. \u201cA not-insignificant portion\u201d will remain with Streaming & Studios, Wiedenfels said, which will remain under the eye of current WBD president and CEO David Zaslav<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s too early to talk about a target capital structure<\/a>. We haven\u2019t made final decisions yet, and you know, there\u2019s a lot we need to work through between now and when this when this deal closes,\u201d Wiedendfels told media analysts on a conference call. \u201cA couple of things can be said, though. Number one, it\u2019s safe to assume that the majority of the debt is going to live with global networks and a smaller portion \u2014 but a not-insignificant portion \u2014 on Streaming & Studios as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the end of March, Warner Bros. Discovery had gross debt of $38.0 billion, which is comprised of \u201ctotal debt\u201d ($37.4 billion) and financial leases ($535 million). The 2022 merger of WarnerMedia (owned by AT&T) and Discovery, Inc. created more than $50 billion of debt.<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier on Monday, June 9, Warner Bros. Discovery announced a split that most of the industry saw coming<\/a>. There will be two independently-operated, publicly-traded companies: Streaming & Studios and Global Networks. Those will be renamed at some point (and probably \u201cWarner Bros.\u201d and \u201cDiscovery\u201d \u2014 again).<\/p>\n

\n\tIt is a very similar move to what NBCUniversal recently did to form Versant<\/a>. Disney has also toyed with the idea.<\/p>\n

\n\tWiedenfels, currently the WBD chief financial officer and Zaslav\u2019s longterm right-hand man, expects his coming company, Global Networks, to \u201ccontinue to see strong cash generation.\u201d Though cable TV is dying, it still generates cash flow \u2014 especially CNN, which heads out with Wiedenfels.<\/p>\n

\n\tBoth Wiedenfels and Zaslav will continue in their present roles at WBD until the separation<\/a>, which is expected to close in mid-2026.<\/p>\n

\n\tZaslav\u2019s\u00a0Streaming & Studios\u00a0company will consist of Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, DC Studios, HBO and HBO Max, as well as their legendary film and television libraries.\u00a0The second business, Global Networks, will include entertainment, sports and news television brands around the world as CNN, TNT Sports in the U.S., and Discovery, free-to-air channels across Europe, and digital products such as the profitable Discovery+ streaming service and Bleacher Report (B\/R).<\/p>\n

\n\tIn other words, Zaslav gets the cool, creative stuff; Streaming & Studios has all of the prestige and most of the future. Wiedenfels will be in charge of much of what presently makes reliable money, but he also inherits all of the downside based on industry trends. And oh yeah, most of that debt.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tWarner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav called the incoming administration \u201can opportunity for consolidation\u201d for Hollywood. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKevork Djansezian\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThree years ago, the very foundation of how, when, and where audiences engaged with content was undergoing fundamental change,\u201d Zaslav wrote in a memo to staff, obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, in reference to the 2022 combination of WarnerMedia and Discovery. \u201cAs both organizations contemplated their futures, one truth became clear: to successfully adapt, transform, and lead in the entertainment industry of tomorrow, we needed to come together \u2014 to draw on each other\u2019s strengths.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNot that it was always easy.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhile the work since that merger has been challenging at times, ultimately, we have succeeded in strengthening each element of our business,\u201d Zaslav said in the memo. \u201cBy bringing together the Discovery and Turner networks, we have created a leader in live and\u00a0unscripted television, with a truly global footprint operating at industry-leading margins. We\u2019ve transformed our direct-to-consumer offering, as HBO Max is now one of the world\u2019s few global and meaningfully profitable streaming services. And by fusing creative brilliance with operational excellence, we have made strong progress in returning our film and television studios to industry leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s safe to assume that the majority\u201d of Warner Bros. Discovery\u2019s roughly $37 billion in debt load will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3937],"tags":[71045,77,71046,382,16,15,47689],"class_list":{"0":"post-170507","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-david-zaslav","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-gunnar-wiedenfels","11":"tag-tv","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-warner-bros-discovery"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114653992424856834","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}