The ultimate bow is placed at the top of WarnerMedia and Discovery’s $ 40 billion merger, making it one of the largest pure content players in the media business.
The AT&T spinoff strategy officially closed late today and on Monday Warner Bros. will see Discovery start trading under the stock ticker symbol “WBD”.
Discovery CEO David Jaslav was appointed as the new leader of Warner Bros. Discovery when the first deal was proposed last May. The question has been lingering for months, though, about the team he will lead. Earlier this week, he favored Discovery Brass across the board (predicting a deadline reporting a month ago). JB Perret, who was head of streaming and international for Discovery, was installed as CEO and President of Global Streaming and Interactive Entertainment. Gunnar Widenfelds, former CFO of Discovery and one of the architects of the merger, will hold the same title in the new company but with slightly extended turf. Other key promotions went to longtime executive Bruce Campbell, who became chief revenue and strategy officer; And Kathleen Finch, former head of Lifestyle Brands who now oversees all linear networks.
Other notable appointments to the new company included four more Discovery VAT: Adria Alpert Romm, chief man and culture officer; David Levy, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer; Lori Lock, Chief Accounting Officer; And General Counsel Savale Sims.
HBO chief Casey Blaise and Warner Bros. film and TV boss Toby Emmerich and Channing Dangi were also confirmed to continue in new structures such as international chief Gerhard Jailer. However, the executives’ confirmation of the initial flight did not alleviate the uncertainty. For example, there is a significant vacancy in Turner Sports, a role that was opened when Jeff Zucker left last February. (His CNN replacement, Chris Licht, has no sports oversight.) Worker overhauls for many other parts of the empire are being discussed as the integration process begins.
The merger will define the larger organization chart, another round of streamlining for WarnerMedia employees who have endured several of them over the past few years. Discovery’s promised স্ট 3 billion cost savings on Wall Street will significantly reduce jobs. The details of these reductions – who stays and who goes – will be the next closely monitored set in the entertainment world next year.
One thing is clear: the top-tier rule established by Jason Killer, the former CEO of WarnerMedia, is largely gone, starting with Killer himself. Nine of his 11 live reports have gone out of company, including studio and network head Ann Sarnoff and streaming overseer Andy Forsell. Other exits include CFO Jennifer Birry; Jim Cummings, Head of Human Resources; Communications EVP and Chief Inclusion Officer Christy Haubeger; EVP and Chief Revenue Officer Tony Goncalves; General Counsel Jim Meja; And Chief Technology Officer Richard Tom.
Shortly before announcing the termination of the contract, John Throwing stones The new company has been named the chief US advertising sales officer. There was no immediate word on the whereabouts of WarnerMedia ad sales chief JP Kolako. Like Andy Forsell and Richard Tom, Colaco worked year after year at Hulu, which continued as Killer CEO. He also made a senior exec post on Vessell, YouTube rival Kilar was founded and later sold to Verizon.
