AT&T Inc and Discovery have reportedly completed the deal that will form Warner Bros. Discovery, an independent entertainment, and global media giant.
The consolidated company, formed as a result of a merger between AT&T’s Warner Media and Discovery, is set to commence trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker WBD.
Warner Bros. Discovery will develop and distribute the world’s most unique and complete portfolio of brands, franchises, and content across film, television, and streaming.
The new entity consolidates WarnerMedia’s premium sports, entertainment, and news assets with the leading international sports, entertainment, and non-fiction businesses of Discovery, including discovery+, Discovery Channel, CNN, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Eurosport, DC, HBO Max, HBO, HGTV, Investigation Discovery, Food Network, TNT, TLC, truTV, Animal Planet, MotorTrend, Travel Channel, Cartoon Network, Turner Classic Movies, Adult Swim, and others.
According to the terms of the agreement, AT&T received cash of USD 40.4 billion as well as WarnerMedia’s retention of some debt. Investors of AT&T received nearly 0.241917 shares of the combined entity for every common share of AT&T owned at the close.
Eventually, stakeholders of the telecom company received around 1.7 billion WBD shares, which comprises nearly 71% of the consolidated company’s stock on a completely diluted basis. Discovery stakeholders hold the rest of the WBD stake.
With the completion of the deal, credible sources have dubbed WBD as a new Top Pick in the media sector coverage of the bank. A new per-share price tag is USD 48, up from USD 40.
According to subject matter experts, the new Warner Bros. Discovery is viewed as one of the best-placed companies in the global streaming video entertainment sector given its IP and content portfolio, combined with its highly popular brand HBO Max and a current streaming subscriber base of 92 million.
Content-wise, WBD is considered number one in scripted entertainment content given the libraries of HBO and Warner Brothers as well as existing production slates. It is also considered number one in unscripted content given Discovery’s rich content throughout its lifestyle brand portfolio.
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