According to The Verge,Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav appears to be trying to clear up rumors that he wants to sell the company to the likes of Comcast.According to Deadline, he told employees, “We’re not selling, we’re not selling,” on a conference call Wednesday that was attended by employees from all parts of the company.
While he is said to have not addressed any specific rumors, a recent report from The Hollywood Reporter appears to be the likely target of his comments. Earlier this month, the outlet said that “high-level people in the industry” were “convinced” that Warner Bros. was about to merge with Comcast, the owner of the NBCUniversal and Peacock streaming services. Reports say people are already mourning the loss of another major studio in the wake of Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox.
It’s not hard to understand why there are rumors that the company may be looking to acquire. As The Hollywood Reporter noted, its search for someone to lead its 10-year DC plan has not yielded extraordinary results, it has a staggering amount of debt, it has cut jobs, and there are talk of more layoffs.
Then there’s the puzzling decision to cancel a completed Batgirl movie and remove content from its flagship streaming service HBO Max. John Oliver, known for bashing any company in charge of HBO, even joked recently that he felt like Warner Bros. Discovery was “burning my network for insurance money.”
In other words, it’s been a rough few months since the mega merger that created the company was completed. But as CNET reporter Alex Cranz pointed out in an article, Zaslav’s goal isn’t for Warner Bros. Discovery to win the streaming wars with whatever service HBO Max and Discovery Plus combine. Instead, he wanted to make as much profit as possible with as little investment; but it had to be done. It’s understandable that people think the most reasonable way to make quick money is to package a bunch of services and IP into a “turnkey” purchase for other media companies to use, but that’s assuming Zaslav and everyone else are playing the same game. And at this point, it’s not entirely clear whether he is.
“We have everything we need to be the largest entertainment media company in the world,” Zaslav told workers, Deadline reported, and the company is on its way to hitting its $3 billion cost-cutting goal.