Warner Bros. Boss David Zaslav: ‘We Are Not For Sale’
Rumors have been circulating that despite only finalizing their merger earlier this year, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) could be looking at another sale in the not-so-distant future.
According to a Deadline report, however, WBD CEO David Zaslav, speaking during a company-wide townhall on Wednesday, dismissed those rumors saying, “We are not for sale, absolutely, not for sale.”
Sources who were on the WBD Zoom call claim that Zaslav told employees, “We have the strongest hand in the industry. We have everything we need to be successful to be the biggest entertainment media company in the world.”
According to those sources, the meeting lasted about 75 minutes, during which Zaslav claimed that the entire industry is suffering at the moment, and emphasized the importance of patience as he steers the ship through choppy waters.
The executive was joined on the call buy HBO and HBO Max chief content officer Casey Bloys, Warner Bros. Television Group chair Channing Dungey, and recently promoted Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group heads Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy.
De Luca and Abdy took turns touting the company’s upcoming feature slate, with Zaslav confirming that the plan is to put 15-20 features per year in theaters. That strategy holds in line with the CEO’s comments during a Q2 earnings call this summer, during which he emphasized that any film produced by WBD should be of theatrical quality.
During Wednesday’s townhall, HBO Max’s downturn in subscribers was also addressed, and used to argue that every player in the streaming game should be revaluating the economics of their industry. The drop in subscribers was cited as a motivating factor in the streamer’s decision to drop content from the platform.
