An aerial view of the Warner Bros. Studio lot on July 13, 2026 in Burbank, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
Warner Bros. Discovery is feeling whiplash.
It was only last summer that the company said it would split itself in two and began the process of creating separate, publicly traded entities: Warner Bros., which would have housed the streaming and film units, and Discovery Global, which would have run its global linear TV networks.
Change seemed to be happening at breakneck speed. The company was in the midst of an aggressive buildout for its HBO Max streaming platform, pushing into new markets and chasing subscriber and profitability growth. Its film studio was showing signs of much awaited momentum. CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels had begun strategizing with fellow executives on how to run a business of just TV networks in a period of rapid decline.
But after a sale process and a delayed merger with David Ellison’s Paramount…
