Zaslav’s imploding Warner Bros. Discovery experiment

It’s official: Warner Bros. Discovery is breaking itself apart. One half will house streaming and studios (HBO, DC, Warner Bros Pictures), the other its aging global networks (CNN, TNT, TBS). Kim Masters and Matt Belloni unpack the strategy, the risks, and what it means for David Zaslav’s future.

That’s all folks? As David Zaslav’s Warner Bros. Discovery fails to find its footing, the company is following in Comcast’s footsteps. WBD will soon split in half with Zaslav overseeing studios and streaming, and CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels handling global networks. “The value proposition there is to put all the assets that are declining but still throw off a lot of cash and manage them for decline,” Belloni notes. “The more interesting company is the studio side. They are going to now try to grow this thing and potentially find someone to buy them.”

Taste test? The WBD merger was pitched as a way to unite disparate audiences and create a content powerhouse, but the reality fell far short. “We all know this concept of wedding Discovery — which was David Zaslav — with Warner Brothers.” Masters says. “[The idea being that] this would somehow salvage Discovery and enable it to be this one company appealing to everybody; the people who watch Discovery, Dr. Pimple Popper and all that stuff, and the people who like HBO… [thinking] it would just be this one juggernaut. It clearly didn't work. It's a fail, and having the debt certainly didn't help.”

Who stays in the picture? Belloni notes that Zaslav’s personal optics didn’t help matters, potentially harming the company’s reputation. “He made a lot of missteps. He pretended that he was an old school Hollywood mogul at a time when old school Hollywood moguls are not a thing. He was talking about sitting behind Jack Warner's desk, he would throw parties, and he bought Bob Evans house — all the things that you absolutely should not do.” I talked to a friend of his this past week. He made it about him. This friend said, ‘nobody wants the suit to be the center of attention. It's a talent business, and when you make it about you, you set yourself up as a target.’”