WarnerMedia’s Discovery merger closes early, WarnerMedia CEO announces resignation

On the morning of April 6, Beijing time, it was reported that WarnerMedia and Discovery, the two major film and television media giants in the United States, had previously announced a $43 billion merger transaction. Japan) was completed, but the latest sources revealed that this transaction will be brought forward to this Friday (April 8) local time. In addition, the CEO of WarnerMedia announced his resignation.

The highlight of this merger transaction is the reorganization of the online video business. Warner Media owns HBO Max and Discovery Media owns Discovery+. In March, Discovery’s chief financial officer, Gunnar Wiedenfels, said that as a first step in the merger and reorganization, the two sides will first launch a bundled package of the two video services, and then look for a plan to reorganize the two video services into one. Direct selling to consumers.

The predecessor of Warner Media is Time Warner Group, which is currently affiliated to the telecom operator AT£¦T. In addition to HBO Max, the company also owns TV channels HBO, CNN (the latest video service CNN+), Warner Bros., DC Movies Company, New Line Cinema, TBS, TNT, TruTV, Turner Sports and other assets, and is also the parent company of The CW.

In contrast, Discovery owns the world-renowned Discovery Channel, as well as television properties such as Discovery+, Travel Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Animal Planet, Science Channel and OWN Channel.

Members of Discovery+ and HBO Max will see huge changes in content in the future, and the two companies will integrate a large library of film and television rights to bring members a new experience.

Separately, before the closing of the merger deal between the two companies, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar announced he was stepping down.

In April 2020, Kirar became CEO of WarnerMedia, before the company launched its video service. In fact, for the development prospects of online video, Kirar is an advantageous senior professional manager. Earlier, he served as the CEO of Hulu, a well-known video website in the United States (the website is currently affiliated with the Disney Group).

The combined company will be headed by Discovery CEO David Zaslav. Zasra will “inherit” a large number of web video assets developed by Kirar.

In May 2021, Zasra signed a new employment contract until 2027. This means that Zasra will remain at the heart of the entire integration of WarnerMedia and Discovery Media.

A regulatory report filed in March revealed that Zasra will earn a total salary of $246 million in 2021, up from $45.8 million in 2019 and $37.7 million in 2020.

Like Kirar, the CEO of Discovery Media has worked for many years in the American film and television entertainment industry and has extensive experience. He has been in charge of Discovery Media since 2007.