Advanced Television

WBD writes down $9.1bn on cablenets

August 8, 2024

Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) has reported financial results for the quarter ended June 30th 2024.

Shares in the media giant dropped by around 11 per cent in extended trading on August 7th after reporting a Q2 loss of $10 billion. This was primarily due to a $9.1 billion (€8.32bn) write-down of the value of WBD’s linear TV networks (including CNN, TNT and TBS) which, according to a WBD statement, was “triggered in response to the difference between market capitalisation and book value, continued softness in the US linear advertising market, and uncertainty related to affiliate and sports rights renewals, including the NBA.”

At the close of trading, WBD’s market capitalisation stood at $18.8 billion, compared with over $50 billion following the closing of Discovery’s acquisition of WarnerMedia in April 2022.

Total revenues stood at $9.7 billion, a 5 per cent ex-FX decrease compared to the prior year quarter.

Global streaming subscribers for Max were at 103.3 million at the end of Q2, an increase of 3.6 million subscribers on Q1. However, total DTC sales fell 6 per cent and losses widened to $107 million from $3 million in Q2 2023.

Content revenue climbed by 5 per cent primarily driven by the timing of third-party licensing deals.

David Zaslav, President and Chief Executive Officer of WBD, said: “At Warner Bros Discovery, our top priority is our global direct-to-consumer business and we are extremely pleased with the growing momentum we are seeing, as demonstrated by another strong quarter of growth with 3.6 million net adds, fueled by our ongoing international expansion and investment in high quality, diverse content. In light of industry headwinds, we have and will continue taking bold steps, like reimagining our existing linear partnerships and pursuing new bundling opportunities, with the goal to get Max on the devices of more consumers faster and at a fraction of the acquisition cost, and we are seeing clear evidence that these and other actions we are taking will help drive segment profitability in the second half of the year and into 2025 and beyond.”

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