Refresh to see more Warner Bros Discovery’s top brass held Wednesday’s company-wide town hall over Zoom. They discussed the current state and industry. The group acknowledged the difficult times in the face of a series of layoffs, cost-cutting, and other changes. CEO David Zaslav responded emphatically to rumors of a merger. “We are not for sale, absolutely, not for sale.”
This information is based on sources from Zoom. While the CEO didn’t specifically address which company he was referring to, the assumption by many was that he was referring to Comcast.
“We have the strongest hand in the industry,”Sources claim that Zaslav informed employees. “We have everything we need to be successful to be the biggest entertainment media company in the world.”
Sources said the meeting, which lasted about 75 minutes and stretched across all of WBD’s workforce, was led by Zaslav, who introduced division heads HBO & HBO Max chief content officer Casey Bloys, Warner Bros Television Group chair Channing Dungey and Warner Bros Motion Picture Group toppers Mike DeLuca and Pam Abdy.
It was an important meeting for Zaslav that showed his philosophy in breaking down silos at Warner Bros Discovery. This is something that didn’t occur during the previous WarnerMedia regime; specifically when it came to all divisions working together to ride herd on J.J. Abrams big half billion development deal cohesively.
Zaslav spoke out about the difficulties facing the industry and encouraged patience.
Abdy and De Luca spoke about the confidence in the feature slate. Zaslav said that they plan to release 15-20 theatrical titles across all genres.
On the TV side, Dungey showed clips, and said there’s a commitment to be the top supplier for HBO Max. The key to success in Dungey’s division is an independent mindset and continuing to work with third parties that deliver great content.
Bloys talked about Netflix’s sub-loss changes in the industry, and how they forced everyone involved in the streaming industry into a discussion about how money should be spent. This seismic event has forced WBD executives to make difficult decisions about taking content off the HBO Max platform. Note, this wasn’t a willy nilly move by HBO suits, but just a means to respond to the will of consumers and what they’re watching. The plan is to reinvest in those shows that people are watching or new ones which they’d be prime to watch. The removal of content on HBO Max in way indicated that there’s a refinement in content strategy.
On the lighter side in the town hall, Zaslav mentioned toward the end he’ give a vest to everyone (he loves his Warner Bros. The chat was filled with questions about Discovery vests.
WBD has been in restructure mode since Discovery’s $43 billion acquisition of WarnerMedia closed in April, when the new company began working toward achieving at least $3 billion in cost savings post-deal. This is achieved through workforce reductions in all divisions and the combining operations, including the merger of Discovery+ and HBO Max.
Most recently, about 30% of the company’s ad-sales staff were laid off, with more expected over the coming weeks; WBD has a combined workforce of about 40,000.
Gunnar Wiedenfels (WBD CFO) stated that the company has achieved between $2 and $3 billion in cost savings. More will be announced in 2023.
The content side has seen several divisions reworked while stateside divisions such as Warner Bros Pictures or the TNets have experienced leadership changes.
Continue reading