\n<\/p>\n
It\u2019s less than five years since David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros Discovery, negotiated what looked like the deal of his career. Now as Netflix plans a landscape-changing takeover of Warner Bros, he\u2019s in the middle of an even bigger one.<\/p>\n
Zaslav, or Zaz, is a hard-charging, well-connected executive who cut his teeth inside NBC, and ascended into New York\u2019s media elite as he transformed Discovery Inc from a nature- and science-focused cable broadcaster into a reality TV giant.<\/p>\n
But he elevated himself to moguldom in 2021, crafting a mega merger between Discovery, home to hit shows including 90 Day Fianc\u00e9\u200b and Naked and Afraid, with WarnerMedia, home to HBO, the premier cable channel; the CNN news network; and Warner Bros, the legendary movie studio behind hit movies from Harry Potter and The Dark Knight to Casablanca and The Exorcist.<\/p>\n
Such esteemed pillars of media are \u201cbetter and more valuable together\u201d, Zaz claimed as the plan for Warner Bros Discovery was unveiled. \u201cIt is super exciting to combine such historic brands, world-class journalism and iconic franchises under one roof and unlock so much value and opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201dWe believe everyone wins,\u201d he declared \u2013 promising great returns for Hollywood producers and stars; investors on Wall Street, and beyond; and fans and viewers around the world.<\/p>\n
It is now December 2025, 55 months after the tie-up was announced, and 44 months after it was sealed, and few feel as if they have won.<\/p>\n
Operators in Hollywood, promised \u201cmore resources and compelling pathways to larger audiences\u201d, have endured cost cuts and a continued struggle to revitalize returns at the box office.<\/p>\n
Shareholders in Warner Bros Discovery, promised a \u201cglobally scaled growth company committed to a strong balance sheet\u201d, have watched as its stock suffered steep market declines and its executives struggled to strengthen its balance sheet.<\/p>\n
And fans and viewers, promised \u201cmore diverse choices\u201d, grappled with a streaming platform that couldn\u2019t even decide on a name. While Barbie surged out of a distinctly mixed bag of Warner Bros cinematic releases since the merger, it had been in the works for years before Discovery came knocking.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to believe everyone has won, or that so much value and opportunity has been unlocked, although one man has done relatively well. As president and CEO of Warner Bros Discovery, Zaslav maintained his status as one of the best-paid bosses in corporate America. Last year alone, his total pay package was worth $51.9m.<\/p>\n
Warner Bros, founded more than a century ago, has been subjected to more than its fair share of Wall Street deal making. Over the years, matchmakers have paired the revered giant with Time Inc, the magazine publisher; AOL, the early dotcom colossus; and AT&T, the telecom giant.<\/p>\n
skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n
Sign up to Business Today<\/span><\/p>\n Get set for the working day \u2013 we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Discovery is just the latest\u200b episode of this poorly performing franchise. Now Netflix is picking up the baton, with an $82.7bn (\u00a362bn) deal to take assets including Warner Bros and HBO off Discovery\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n \u200bA press release \u200bi\u200bssued by the two companies\u200b included a familiar promise: the proposed combination\u200b will generate \u201cmore choice, more opportunities, more value\u201d for Hollywood, investors and viewers, it said.<\/p>\n \u200bTwo troubled takeovers of Warner Bros ago, Netflix was an upstart streaming service licensing old movies and TV series for people to watch on their computers. While the tech firm\u2019s remarkable success raised sweeping questions around the future of entertainment, those in charge of Warner Bros were highly dismissive.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a little bit like, is the Albanian army going to take over the world?\u201d Jeff Bewkes, \u200bthe then CEO of Time Warner,\u200b \u200btold the New York Times<\/em> in 2010. \u201cI don\u2019t think so.\u201d<\/p>\n \u200bThe world has now shaken hands with the Albanian army, and agreed to a takeover. It looks very different today. But some things never change.<\/p>\n Another deal for Warner Bros. Will this one work out?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s less than five years since David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros Discovery, negotiated what looked like the deal of his career. Now as Netflix plans a landscape-changing takeover of Warner Bros, he\u2019s in the middle of an even bigger one. Zaslav, or Zaz, is a hard-charging, well-connected executive who cut his teeth inside NBC,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[2036,696,596,1870,830,4328,205,274,3063,2035],"class_list":{"0":"post-36182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-bros","9":"tag-deal","10":"tag-disaster","11":"tag-giant","12":"tag-hollywood","13":"tag-inks","14":"tag-media","15":"tag-netflix","16":"tag-troubled","17":"tag-warner"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}