WarnerMedia and Discovery to merge, forming streaming big

By AFP
NEW YORK: US telecommunications agency AT&T introduced Monday a merger between its WarnerMedia unit — which owns CNN and HBO — and Discovery media, making a streaming big that would compete with Netflix and Disney+.

When the deal is finalized, AT&T will obtain $43 billion and AT&T’s shareholders will take inventory representing 71 p.c of the brand new firm, with Discovery shareholders proudly owning 29 p.c. 

In a joint assertion, the merger was described as creating “one of the largest global streaming players.”

The deal will “combine WarnerMedia’s premium entertainment, sports and news assets with Discovery’s leading nonfiction and international entertainment and sports businesses to create a premier, standalone global entertainment company,” the businesses mentioned.

The transaction might create a rival to problem trade leaders Netflix and Disney+, which have seen subscriber numbers surge in the course of the pandemic. 

A slowdown within the progress of the Disney empire’s streaming platform between January and March, nonetheless, made buyers fret and precipitated the group’s shares to plunge final week.

AT&T purchased Time Warner in 2018 for $80 billion, then renamed it WarnerMedia, which owns HBO, Warner Bros. studios and cable channels resembling CNN.

Discovery has channels in 220 nations, based on its web site. 

WarnerMedia had internet gross sales of $30.4 billion in 2020, and Discovery — which owns Eurosport — $10.7 billion.