WarnerMedia to sell TMZ?
August 12, 2021
By Chris Forrester
Tabloid entertainment publisher and broadcasting brand TMZ is reportedly being sold to Fox by AT&T.
The move is yet another sign that AT&T/Warner is looking to divest itself of non-core business divisions. AT&T is also in the process of combining WarnerMedia’s entertainment, sports and news assets with Discovery’s nonfiction and international entertainment and sports businesses to create a standalone global streaming entertainment company.
TMZ is already part of the Fox family in that it airs a TV show (TMZ on TV) on Fox’s broadcast TV stations.
TMZ’s tabloid-heavy on-line publication specialises in entertainment and celebrity-led news.
However, readers with long memories might sense a certain déjà vu in the reports. Go back to 2017 and the then $85 million ‘merger’ between AT&T and TimeWarner also prompted reports that CNN and TMZ would be sold once the merger wrapped.