(Reuters) – Warner Bros Discovery, the parent company of HBO and CNN, announced on Monday that it was going to split into two distinct entities, one bringing together its studios and streaming activities, the other its cable television networks.
The group’s general manager David Zaslav will take the lead in streaming and studios activities after the split, while Gunnar Wiedenfels, WBD financial director, will direct the Global Networks unit, which will encompass the active ingredients linked to television channels.
“By operating in the future as two separate and optimized companies, we offer these emblematic brands the means to focus better and the strategic flexibility they need to compete more efficiently in the current media landscape in full evolution,” said David Zaslav.
The media sector is going through what some leaders call “general disruption”, while millions of subscribers abandon television, formerly lucrative, for the benefit of streaming.
This situation increases pressure on businesses so that they regularly produce successful content and improve the profitability of their streaming activities.
In December 2024, WBD laid the foundations for a possible sale or split of its declining television assets, announcing the separation of its streaming and studio activities.
This separation will allow the company to align with Comcast, which separates from most of its television channels, such as MSNBC and CNBC.
(Report Aditya Soni and Akash Sriram, Elena Smirnova, edited by Kate Entringer)
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