The business world is full of acquisitions, spin-offs, and mergers of our favorite companies. Since last year, AT&T agreed to spin off WarnerMedia and have it merge with Discovery to form one media machine. According to The Verge, this deal just got government clearance.
WarnerMedia and Discovery are going to merge into one company
We’re all familiar with the movies and shows from WarnerMedia and Discovery (even if you didn’t know they were from those companies). Now, according to the report, these two major media companies are going to merge into one large media machine.
Back in May of 2021, AT&T agreed to spin WarnerMedia off into its own company and have it merge with Discovery. According to the official filing, this deal was cleared of any antitrust practice and set into motion. As of February 9th, the merger is moving into its next step.
AT&T will receive a sum of $43 billion from WarnerMedia, but it won’t all be in the form of cash. It will be a combination of debt securities, debt retention, and cash and this will be an all-stock transaction.
It’s tough to say what happens next
At this point, we’re not sure there will be any major changes in the content that these companies produce. We know that both of these media companies own a ton of smaller brands that we’re all familiar with, so any of them could be affected.
WarnerMedia owns CartoonNetwork, Adult Swim, Boomerang, TBS, WB, HBO, TNT, Tru TV, CNN, HLN, Cinemax, Turner Classic Movies, Rooster Teeth, Mondo TV, and a lot more. Discovery owns The Science Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, ID, Animal Planet, OWN, A&E, Lifetime, The History Channel, The Trvl Channel, and more.
There’s also Discovery+
One thing to think about is the streaming service that Discovery has. The company owns a platform called Discovery+. This gives you access to early content from the list of Discovery properties mentioned above. Discovery could also offer content from WarnerMedia on Discovery+, which would be a really nice treat.
Another thing that could happen is a rebrand of the service. It’s possible that Discovery could change the service from Discovery+ and make it something that included media from both companies. We’re far out from anything final, this will have to stay speculation for the time being.
Next, the Discovery shareholders will have a vote on this matter. The result of that vote will dictate the path of this merger going forward.
2022-02-11 15:06:34