Discovery and WarnerMedia Merger

[AlexanderMBush]

 

[TheUniC6]

Skydance Investors in Talks to Gain Control of Paramount Global Via National Amusements Takeover

Skydance Media investors are in early talks to gain control of Paramount Global via a purchase of a controlling stake in National Amusements Inc.

variety.com

 

[AlexanderMBush]

From Variety's recent article: WBD will be open to engage talks on a sale/merger between companies. People on the lot have continually believed, that NBCUniversal will be the ones to buy/merge with WBD. There is also the belief, that the deals being made at WBD is to butter up a deal to take place; to allure buyers.

Warner Bros. Spends Big: ‘Joker 2’ Budget Hits $200 Million, Lady Gaga’s $12 Million Payday, Courting Tom Cruise’s New Deal and More

Warner Bros. is paying Lady Gaga $12 million for "Joker 2," while Leonardo DiCaprio is earning $20 million for Paul Thomas Anderson's new movie.

variety.com

 

[rageofthegods]

God, the past six years of Warner Brothers has been so unbelievably sad.

 

[Wesker69]

My roommate works for WB in the payroll department, well... worked as in past tense. They've been laying people off left & right. Unfortunately she was one of the axed, but still technically working as a trainer for her replacement. The studio is a complete mess ever since this merger

Discovery/Zaslav is the worst thing to happen to WB

 

[Mad Dog]

A bad CEO, and Zaslav is not film/media competent , can really do major damage to a business. The shame of it is that he'll still get his many millions in compensation and stock options, while the little guys suffer.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

A bad CEO can really do major damage to a business. The shame of it is that he'll still get his many millions in compensation and stock options, while the little guys suffer.

I'd argue he might be...the worst CEO to truly hit Hollywood? Is there a CEO that has done worse than Zaslav?

The amount of damage he has done in such a short time; should put him in the history books of what -not- to do as a CEO. And that people could even go in and attribute it to stuff like what he did to Discovery *before* going after WB.

 

[Mad Dog]

I'd argue he might be...the worst CEO to truly hit Hollywood? Is there a CEO that has done worse than Zaslav?

The amount of damage he has done in such a short time; should put him in the history books of what -not- to do as a CEO. And that people could even go in and attribute it to stuff like what he did to Discovery *before* going after WB.

Unfortunately, the Film business, has a history of poor leadership. One reason there's been so many mergers over the years. The worst crime though is when CEO's, most notably Republic, left films to rot and disappear because they didn't want to pay the fairly insignificant storage fees, and the Movie/TV Execs who erased film shows/movies/product and reused film just to save a very insignificant amount of money. Same thing is kind of playing out with the Streaming companies that cause movies/shows to disappear into the cloud with no trace, instead of keeping them in a catalogue state.

 

[rageofthegods]

Zaslav is a buffoon, sure, but I'd argue Kilar and Stephenson at AT&T were worse, and even before that Bewkes's management was rife with unforced errors like that bakeoff thing or dismissing streaming as a fad. Just a decade of poor management leading up to a studio that's like Seth Brundle at the end of the Fly, begging to be killed.

Every year, Comcast's management of NBCU looks more and more like a miracle.

EDIT: This is such a bleak time for media lol. The companies have raced off the cliff and are now facing the rapidly approaching ground without a plan. What a disgrace. I'd say so much more but I can't cuss on this forum.

 

[Wesker69]

I'd say so much more but I can't cuss on this forum.

Just leave blanks & we'll play a few rounds of Hangman to fill in the letters!

 

[Mad Dog]

Zaslav is a buffoon, sure, but I'd argue Kilar and Stephenson at AT&T were worse, and even before that Bewkes's management was rife with unforced errors like that bakeoff thing or dismissing streaming as a fad. Just a decade of poor management leading up to a studio that's like Seth Brundle at the end of the Fly, begging to be killed.

Every year, Comcast's management of NBCU looks more and more like a miracle.

EDIT: This is such a bleak time for media lol. The companies have raced off the cliff and are now facing the rapidly approaching ground without a plan. What a disgrace. I'd say so much more but I can't cuss on this forum.

It's crazy how just about the entire media company landscape, is filled with CEO's that don't understand the business they're in, and continue to make really horrendous decisions that are financially irresponsible.

 

[Wesker69]

Batgirl - completed, shelved for taxes
Coyote vs Acme - completed, shelved for taxes

I'm sure the list goes on...

 

[wutisgood]

See these companies were forced to start competing for an evolving market in streaming and had to invest huge amounts of money in services and content. Then they just decided they would actually rather spend billions to merge and cut content than have long term competition. When you have people like Zaslav taking loans form the bank to pay himself 400 million its a no brainer. The rich get richer, competition goes down, prices go up.