Warner Bros Collapses

Warner Bros. Discovery Inc stock has fallen 24% in the past three months. The move has tarnished the reputation of CEO David Zaslav, who was considered as best chief executive officer. His attempt to improve the performance of the debt-burdened company has  undercut by problems at CNN and worry that the new streaming service Max has too much competition to be successful. (Zaslav is among executives paid more than $150 million a year.)

Under Zaslav’s aegis, Chris Licht, the relatively new CEO of CNN, has worked to tamp down what had been a swashbuckling, even crusading CNN that was run by his predecessor, Jeff Zucker. Former President Donald Trump often perceived the network as leaning left and often cast in an antagonist role. Zaslav’s premise is that “Democracy is under assault everywhere,” and the mission is to be able to hear each other. Executives at the company are eager to burnish CNN’s news bona fides, its roster of on-the-ground correspondents, and its global infrastructure. They’d like to strip out some of the on-screen passion and opinion its reporters and correspondents were given leeway to exhibit under the prior chief.

It posted deteriorating ratings and a drop in profitability to $750 million last year, compared to a string of years in which it made over $1 billion. CNN CEO’s efforts to improve the network have been criticized as digging a hole compared to rivals MSNBC and Fox News. It would require a second revamping of talent and shows to improve that. The risks are significant.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s market cap is only $28 billion. Rival Disney’s market cap is $166 billion. That, by itself, tells what Wall Street thinks of Zaslav’s prospects.

Finding a qualified financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to 3 fiduciary financial advisors in your area in 5 minutes. Each advisor has been vetted by SmartAsset and is held to a fiduciary standard to act in your best interests.

Licht’s CNN will soon have a little new blood. It will launch a new weekly program in the fall that pairs Gayle King with basketball great Charles Barkley. Most of the other talent shifts at CNN rely on personnel already under its umbrella. Pleasing talent is difficult when the parent company pushes many of them out the door. CNN journalists have reason to be skeptical of a parent company that touts its newsgathering resources even as it shrinks them. CNN has cut ties with dozens of its employees, including veterans like Barbara Starr and Alison Kosik as its corporate parent grapples with crippling debt laid on top of it as part of the merger that put the Warner assets under Discovery control.

Treating CNN like another media property to demolish and rebuild seems ill-considered. Warner Bros. Discovery needs CNN’s cash flow. But changing CNN is like repairing an airplane while it’s already in flight. Everyone can see what’s happening, and if executives aren’t careful, the whole thing might crash.

.Sarah H

Also on site :

• Palestinian activist Khalil denied release for son’s birth, wife says
• Education Ministry rehabilitates 70 schools since Assad regime’s fall
• Pope Francis’s will in full: Pontiff’s final wishes and place of burial