Warner Bros. Discovery’s move on Thursday to restructure itself was essentially window dressing — it doesn’t change the fundamental challenges facing the media company. But it buys time for CEO David Zaslav to try to find a way out of the deepening hole caused by plummeting linear TV profits. And it telegraphed loudly that WBD is open to dealmaking when the new Trump administration takes over next month.
Analysts seemed to agree that the move to formally split WBD into two divisions — one the declining Global Linear Networks and the other called Streaming & Studios — is likely only the first step by Zaslav to deal with the company’s TV assets, which Warner Bros.