Warner Bros. Discovery stock surges as it restructures its business

  • CNN
  • December 12, 2024
CNN

 — 

Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN's corporate parent, announced Thursday, it is establishing a new corporate structure that splits its cable networks off from its growing streaming business.

The restructuring is not a spinoff of cable assets, as Comcast recently announced, but it may ultimately have the same effect.

Warner Bros. Discovery will have two separate operating divisions: "Global Linear Networks" for CNN, TBS, TNT and other cable networks, and "Streaming & Studios" for Max and the company's film and entertainment studios.

The company said the changes will take effect by mid-2025. Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) rose 7% in premarket trading after the restructuring was announced.

The new structure will give Warner Bros. Discovery more "flexibility with potential future strategic opportunities across an evolving media landscape," CEO David Zaslav said in a press release.

Wall Street analysts have been anticipating merger and acquisition activity across the cable television industry contracts in the streaming era, particularly as President-elect Donald Trump takes office with a deregulation agenda.

This is a developing story and will be updated.