Deal closed! Warner Bros and Discovery complete their merger with a $43 billion deal

The media giants Discovery and AT&T’s WarnerMedia have completed their merger. They will now be titled Warner Bros. Discovery. The deal was closed at $43 billion after 11 months. The corporate website is now WBD.com.

Led by David Zaslav as the CEO, the new conglomerate plans to take on platforms like Netflix and Disney in the streaming space with its scripted and unscripted content. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Zaslav called the merger an 'exciting milestone' and further said in his statement that the platform will now offer a differentiated and complete portfolio of content across film, television and streaming. "We are confident that we can bring more choice to consumers around the globe while fostering creativity and creating value for shareholders. I can’t wait for both teams to come together to make Warner Bros. Discovery the best place for impactful storytelling,” he said.

Amid the growing competition in the streaming space, the new conglomerate will focus on providing a wide slate of content across different genres and formats. Zaslav believes that the companies which offer the “most appealing and complete” content will lead the streaming age and hence, Warner Bros. Discovery holds an advantage as it has a 'broad menu of content to super-serve every demo and every family member.' He further had said, according to the portal, that their content slate is as big as Netflix’s. 

He also plans to have combined streaming offerings with the goal to grow the number of global subscribers. The team aims to reach 200 to 400 million subscribers in the future. At the end of 2021, Discovery had 22 million subscribers, while HBO and HBO Max closed the year with nearly 74 million worldwide. On the other hand, Netflix had nearly 222 million and Disney+, nearly 130 million.

Earlier, Gunnar Wiedenfels, who is now the CFO of Warner Bros. Discovery, had shared the plans to combine HBO Max and Discovery+ to combine the subscriber acquisition power of the former and the customer retention power of the latter. He said it would create a 'blowout product' that help bring in more revenue growth for the company. 

The new conglomerate plans to invest in HBO Maz more by re-looking at the content spend for Discovery+.