# Warner Bros. Discovery
> WBD · New York, New York
- Profile type: Company
- Profile status: comprehensive
- Last updated: 2026-05-04T00:00:00.000Z
- Canonical URL: https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/warner-bros-discovery/
- Also known as: WBD, Warner Bros Discovery, Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc., WarnerMedia, Warner Brothers Discovery, Warner Bros, Warner Media
## Summary
Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD) is a U.S. media conglomerate formed April 8, 2022 from AT&T's spinoff of WarnerMedia and its merger with Discovery, Inc. It owns HBO, HBO Max, the Warner Bros. studios, CNN, TNT Sports, and Discovery's cable networks. CEO David Zaslav has led the company since formation. Paramount Skydance's $31-per-share all-cash acquisition was approved by WBD shareholders on April 23, 2026; the deal targets a Q3 2026 close pending regulatory review.

## Company facts

- Ticker: WBD
- Founded: 2022
- Headquarters: New York, New York
- Employees: 35,500
- Domain: wbd.com
- CEO: david zaslav (https://thestateofstreaming.com/people/david-zaslav/)


## Latest metrics

- Revenue: $37.296 billion (FY2025)
- Subscribers: 131.6 million streaming subscribers (as of Dec. 31, 2025)
- As of: 2025-12-31
- Source: https://www.wbd.com/news/warner-bros-discovery-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2025-results


## Recent filings

- 2026-04-23 — 8-K (Item 5.07): Special meeting vote results — merger agreement with Paramount Skydance adopted by ~99% of votes cast; advisory vote on merger-related NEO compensation rejected by ~82%; quorum 70.3% of outstanding shares. (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1437107/000119312526173660/d435468d8k.htm)
- 2025-02-27 — 10-K: FY2024 annual report. Total revenue $39.3 billion (4% ex-FX decrease YoY); 116.9 million DTC subscribers as of December 31, 2024; Q4 Adjusted EBITDA $2.7 billion (+11% ex-FX). (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1437107/000143710725000031/wbd-20241231.htm)


## Key facts

- Warner Bros. Discovery was formed on April 8, 2022 through AT&T's spinoff of WarnerMedia and merger with Discovery, Inc., structured as a Reverse Morris Trust in which AT&T shareholders held 71% of the new company and Discovery shareholders held 29%. — Wikipedia (corroborates AT&T 8-K disclosures): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros._Discovery
- WBD reported total 2024 revenue of $39.3 billion and ended 2024 with 116.9 million direct-to-consumer subscribers, per the company's 10-K filed with the SEC on February 27, 2025. — WBD 10-K, FY2024: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1437107/000143710725000031/wbd-20241231.htm
- WBD reported total 2025 revenue of $37.296 billion and 131.6 million streaming subscribers as of December 31, 2025, per the company's full-year 2025 results released February 26, 2026. — Warner Bros. Discovery Q4 and Full-Year 2025 Results: https://www.wbd.com/news/warner-bros-discovery-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2025-results
- Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders approved the Paramount Skydance merger agreement on April 23, 2026 by 1,742,843,087 votes for to 16,260,135 against — roughly 99% of votes cast — with 70.3% of outstanding shares represented, per WBD's 8-K filing with the SEC. — WBD Form 8-K, Item 5.07: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1437107/000119312526173660/d435468d8k.htm
- At the same April 23, 2026 special meeting, WBD shareholders rejected the merger-related compensation packages for named executive officers on a nonbinding advisory vote — 1,444,387,748 shares against versus 307,742,302 in favor, roughly 82% opposed. — WBD Form 8-K, Item 5.07: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1437107/000119312526173660/d435468d8k.htm
- Under the merger agreement, WBD shareholders will receive $31.00 per share in cash; the deal is targeted to close in Q3 2026 and carries a $0.25-per-share quarterly ticking fee if it has not closed by September 30, 2026. — WBD press release: https://www.wbd.com/news/warner-bros-discovery-sets-shareholder-meeting-date-april-23-2026-approve-transaction
- David Zaslav has served as President and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery since the company's April 8, 2022 formation; he was previously CEO of Discovery, Inc. from 2006 onward. — WBD Leadership page: https://www.wbd.com/leadership/david-zaslav
- Reelgood for Business analysis published March 4, 2026 estimated the combined HBO Max plus Paramount+ catalog at roughly 53,000 content hours and the full Paramount-WBD portfolio including Discovery+ and Pluto TV at roughly 131,000 hours — about 2.8 times Netflix's U.S. catalog. — Reelgood for Business, By the Numbers (David Markowitz): https://data.reelgood.com/what-combined-paramount-wbd-content-library-actually-looks-like/
- Paramount Skydance, on behalf of WBD, paid Netflix a $2.8 billion termination fee in connection with the February 27, 2026 termination of the Netflix–WBD Amended and Restated Merger Agreement; Netflix recorded the fee in 'Interest and other income (expense)' for Q1 2026. — Netflix Q1 2026 10-Q, Note 6: https://www.stocktitan.net/sec-filings/NFLX/10-q-netflix-inc-quarterly-earnings-report-6f0f12e2e192.html
- WBD is headquartered at 230 Park Avenue South, New York; the company reported approximately 35,500 employees as of December 31, 2025. — Wikipedia (corroborated by WBD 10-K disclosure): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros._Discovery


## Related

- david zaslav (President and CEO) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/people/david-zaslav/
- jb perrette (CEO of Global Streaming and Games) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/people/jb-perrette/
- paramount skydance corporation (Acquirer (announced merger; pending close Q3 2026)) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/paramount-skydance-corporation/
- paramount global (Predecessor entity to Paramount Skydance acquirer) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/paramount-global/
- netflix (Prior would-be acquirer (terminated Feb 27, 2026); category competitor) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/netflix/
- comcast corporation (Cable-network and streaming competitor) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/comcast-corporation/
- the walt disney company (Streaming and cable competitor) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/the-walt-disney-company/
- david ellison (CEO of Paramount Skydance, the announced acquirer) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/people/david-ellison/


## External coverage

- 2026-04-23 — Warner Bros. Discovery: Warner Bros. Discovery Stockholders Approve Transaction with Paramount Skydance (https://www.wbd.com/news/warner-bros-discovery-stockholders-approve-transaction-paramount-skydance)
- 2026-04-23 — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: WBD Form 8-K — Special Meeting Vote Results (Item 5.07) (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1437107/000119312526173660/d435468d8k.htm)
- 2025-02-27 — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: WBD Annual Report on Form 10-K (FY2024) (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1437107/000143710725000031/wbd-20241231.htm)
- 2026-02-26 — Warner Bros. Discovery: Warner Bros. Discovery Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Results (https://www.wbd.com/news/warner-bros-discovery-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2025-results)
- 2026-04-13 — UK Competition and Markets Authority: Paramount / Warner Bros. Discovery merger inquiry (https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/paramount-slash-warner-bros-discovery-merger-inquiry)
- 2026-04-23 — Variety: Warner Bros. Discovery Shareholders Overwhelmingly Approve Paramount Megadeal, but Vote Against Exit Pay Packages for Zaslav and Other Execs (https://variety.com/2026/film/news/warner-bros-discovery-paramount-shareholder-approval-zaslav-pay-package-1236727798/)
- 2026-03-04 — Reelgood for Business (David Markowitz): What the Combined Paramount-WBD Content Library Actually Looks Like (https://data.reelgood.com/what-combined-paramount-wbd-content-library-actually-looks-like/)
- Warner Bros. Discovery: Warner Bros. Discovery Leadership (https://www.wbd.com/leadership/)

## Profile
Warner Bros. Discovery is the post-merger holding company for the Warner Bros. studios, HBO and HBO Max, CNN, TNT Sports, Discovery's non-fiction networks, and a portfolio of legacy cable brands including TBS, TNT, truTV, HGTV, and Food Network. Created in April 2022 from AT&T's spinoff of WarnerMedia and merger with Discovery, Inc., it competes in U.S. premium SVOD against Netflix, Disney, and Paramount; in linear-cable advertising against Comcast NBCUniversal, Disney, and Paramount; and in studio production against Disney, Universal, Sony, and Paramount.

The active corporate event on this profile is Paramount Skydance Corporation's $31-per-share, all-cash acquisition of WBD, agreed February 27, 2026 after WBD's board declared Paramount's bid superior to a previously-signed Netflix transaction. WBD shareholders approved the deal on April 23, 2026 by roughly 99% of votes cast, on the same ballot at which they rejected merger-related executive compensation by roughly 82%. The transaction targets a Q3 2026 close, subject to U.S., U.K., and EU regulatory clearances. The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority opened an invitation-to-comment phase on April 13, 2026, with the public comment period closing April 27.

Coverage of the merger and WBD's role in the broader streaming-consolidation arc lives across [our business-deals coverage](/sections/business-deals/) and the [streaming-wars data story](/measurement-data/2026/04/streaming-wars-era-ended-2025-data-story/).
## Coverage on The State of Streaming
- [Walmart's CTV Stack Just Became a Required Identity Gateway](https://thestateofstreaming.com/advertising-adtech/2026/05/walmart-vizio-ctv-stack-consolidation/) — 2026-05-03
- [MLB's 2026 Schedule Spreads Across Six Platforms — and Resets Rights Math](https://thestateofstreaming.com/content-programming/2026/04/mlb-2026-six-platform-rights-fragmentation-2/) — 2026-04-27
- [MLB's 2026 Schedule Spreads Across Six Platforms — and Resets Rights Math](https://thestateofstreaming.com/content-programming/2026/04/mlb-2026-six-platform-rights-fragmentation/) — 2026-04-27
- [Peacock Premium Plus Heads to The Roku Channel as Comcast Sells Q2 Inflection](https://thestateofstreaming.com/platforms/2026/04/comcast-q1-peacock-inflection-followups/) — 2026-04-26
- [Carr's FCC Pressed Streaming on Three Fronts in 10 Days](https://thestateofstreaming.com/policy-regulation/2026/04/fcc-carr-streaming-jurisdiction-pressure/) — 2026-04-26
- [Paramount Skydance Pays Ellison and Outgoing President $124M as WBD Holders Reject Zaslav Parachute](https://thestateofstreaming.com/business-deals/2026/04/wbd-paramount-merger-followups/) — 2026-04-26
- [Magnite Q1 Guidance Puts CTV Above 50% for the First Time](https://thestateofstreaming.com/advertising-adtech/2026/04/magnite-q1-2026-ctv-crossover-preview/) — 2026-04-25
- [Netflix Authorizes $25B Buyback After $5.09B FCF Quarter](https://thestateofstreaming.com/platforms/2026/04/netflix-q1-2026-buyback-ad-tier/) — 2026-04-25
- [Paramount Opens 2026 Upfront With Roku, Amazon Ad-Sales Hires](https://thestateofstreaming.com/advertising-adtech/2026/04/paramount-askinasi-upfront-strategy/) — 2026-04-25
- [WBD Shareholders Approve Paramount Merger 99% to 1%](https://thestateofstreaming.com/business-deals/2026/04/wbd-paramount-shareholder-vote/) — 2026-04-25

## Tags

- media-conglomerate
- streaming-svod
- cable-networks
- studios
- NASDAQ
- public
- pending-acquisition

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