The new company emerging from the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery will be called Warner Bros. Discovery. The company, co-owned by Discovery and AT&T, will take the slogan “the stuff that dreams are made of,” borrowed from the Warner Bros. Pictures movie The Maltese Falcon. Warner Bros. Discovery will become the umbrella that houses such brands as HBO, Warner Bros., Discovery, CNN, WB Games, Turner Sports, Cartoon Network, HGTV, Food Network, TNT, TBS, Turner Classic Movies, Wizarding World, Adult Swim, Eurosport, Magnolia, TLC, Animal Planet, ID, and others. Some comic book fans wonder what this means for the future of DC, the publisher of comics featuring Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, among many others, which is included in the merger.
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Discovery CEO David Zaslav will lead the new company as its new CEO. In a press release announcing the name, he said, “Warner Bros. Discovery will aspire to be the most innovative, exciting and fun place to tell stories in the world – that is what the company will be about. We love the new company’s name because it represents the combination of Warner Bros.’ fabled hundred year legacy of creative, authentic storytelling and taking bold risks to bring the most amazing stories to life, with Discovery’s global brand that has always stood brightly for integrity, innovation and inspiration. There are so many wonderful, creative and journalistic cultures that will make up the Warner Bros. Discovery family. We believe it will be the best and most exciting place in the world to tell big, important and impactful stories across any genre – and across any platform: film, television and streaming.”
The press release describes Warner Bros. Discovery as a “pure play” content company. The release cites the company’s deep catalog of intellectual property, including 200,000 hours of programming and more than 100 brands.
The new company will launch after the high-profile debuts of WarnerMedia’s HBO Max and Discovery’s Discovery+ streaming services and follows a series of corporate restructurings at WarnerMedia after AT&T purchased the company that led to thousands of layoffs. The new company will be the second-largest media entity in Hollywood, behind only Disney in terms of size.
This merger could kick off a series of similar corporate entanglements. It wasn’t long after this announcement that Amazon revealed plans to purchase Metro-Goldwyn Mayer, or MGM, the studio behind the James Bond film franchise and home to many other intellectual properties.
