Two weeks after a deal valued at $43 billion combined WarnerMedia with Discovery Inc., the newly merged media giant has a new name: Warner Bros. Discovery.
“Warner Bros. Discovery will aspire to be the most innovative, exciting and fun place to tell stories in the world--that is what the company will be about," said David Zaslav, president and CEO of the combined company, in a statement.
"We love the new company’s name because it represents the combination of Warner Bros.’ fabled hundred year legacy of creative, authentic storytelling and taking bold risks to bring the most amazing stories to life, with Discovery’s global brand that has always stood brightly for integrity, innovation and inspiration," Zaslav added. "There are so many wonderful, creative and journalistic cultures that will make up the Warner Bros. Discovery family. We believe it will be the best and most exciting place in the world to tell big, important and impactful stories across any genre – and across any platform: film, television and streaming.”
Discovery said the word mark for the combined company, which is still awaiting regulatory blessings, will borrow a now hackneyed phrase from the Warner Bros. Humphrey Bogart classic The Maltese Falcon: "The stuff dreams are made of."
AT&T paid $85 billion to buy Time Warner Inc. just three years ago. But after rebranding its media asset as WarnerMedia, launching the direct-to-consumer streaming platform HBO Max, and firing thousands of worker, the telecom decided to pivot again and focus on 5G connectivity.
It's now spinning WarnerMedia off, and combining it with Discovery--a deal give both media companies a lot more scale in their quest to run down the renegade likes of Disney, Amazon and Netflix in the global streaming race.
Discovery chief executive David Zaslav has been raised, re-upped and put in charge of the combined operation.
Jason Kilar, the WarnerMedia CEO who has spent the last year streamlining his compnay for the digital age, while righting the misshapen launch of HBO Max, said last week that he'll stick around at least through this year.
