The US communications giant AT&T would be ready to close an agreement for the merger of its subsidiary WarnerMedia with Discovery. Bloomberg, Reuters and some American media report. The announcement could arrive in the next few hours. Second Bloomberg the operation would mark a decisive change of course after years of increasingly less fruitful investments in traditional television.
The operation, destined to give competitors such as Netflix and Disney a hard time, provides for the listing of the new company which would be co-owned by AT&T and the Discovery shareholders. Discovery has a market value of $ 16 billion and an enterprise value of $ 30 billion. AT&T bought Time Warner in 2018 – later renamed WarnerMedia – for $ 85 billion.
The deal at stake could create an entertainment giant capable of challenging streaming giants like Netflix and Disney +. At & t already has prestigious brands in its portfolio such as Hbo, Hbo Max, Cnn, Cartoon network, Tnt and many others – in addition to the Warner Studio – through its WarnerMedia division.
Specifically, Hbo and Hbo Max boast 63.9 million global subscribers, compared to more than 100 million at Disney + and 207.6 million at Netflix. For its part, Discovery also thanks to Animal Planet, Hgtv and Discovery Channel, reaches 88.3 million homes in the United States.