Discovery Closes $43 Billion Acquisition of AT&T’s WarnerMedia
09.04.2022 - 00:21
/ variety.com
Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterDiscovery completed its $43 billion acquisition of WarnerMedia from AT&T on Friday to form new company Warner Bros. Discovery.WarnerMedia owns HBO, HBO Max, CNN, Warner Bros., DC Films, New Line Cinema, TBS, TNT, TruTV, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, Turner Sports and Rooster Teeth, among other brands, and is part owner of the CW Network along with Paramount.Discovery is the parent of Discovery Plus, Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Travel Channel, Turbo/Velocity, Animal Planet, Science Channel and OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network).Here is the new leadership structure for Warner Bros.
Discovery, as announced by CEO David Zaslav on Thursday.On Friday, it was revealed Jon Steinlauf will oversee U.S. ad sales for the new Warner Bros.
Discovery, a key position at the company that is, like many other senior operating roles, going to an executive who has familiarity working with Zaslav. Before these appointments were announced, several WarnerMedia execs exited their current roles: WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar; Andy Forssell, EVP and general manager of HBO Max; Ann Sarnoff, chair and chief executive officer of WarnerMedia’s studios and networks group; Jennifer Biry, chief financial officer; Jim Cummings, EVP, chief human resources officer; Tony Goncalves, EVP, chief revenue officer; Christy Haubegger, EVP, communications and chief inclusion officer; Jim Meza, EVP, general counsel, WarnerMedia; and Richard Tom, chief technology officer.
In some cases, executives declined offers to stay in different capacities. Discovery execs have already confirmed long-term plans to combine streaming platforms HBO Max and Discovery Plus as one platform under Warner Bros.
.