AT&T and Discovery have closed their $43 billion deal that will combine Discovery with WarnerMedia, the company confirmed in an internal memo that was reviewed by Axios.Warner Bros. Discovery, as the newly combined company will be known, immediately becomes one of the entertainment industry's biggest players alongside Disney and Netflix.Warner Bros. Discovery will house under one roof: Warner Bros.
WarnerMedia let go of nine top execs ahead of the deal's closing: HBO Max chief Andy Forssell, CRO Tony Goncalves, CTO Richard Tom, CFO Jennifer Biry, exec vp and chief human resources officer Jim Cummings, exec vp communications and chief inclusion officer Christy Haubegger, WarnerMedia general counsel Jim Meza, Warner Bros. chair and CEO Ann Sarnoff and WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar.
AT&T CEO John Stankey has spent the last two years unwinding his predecessor Randall Stephenson's acquisitions, which also included a spin off of DirecTV.Warner Bros. Discovery will begin trading on the Nasdaq next week under the stock ticker "WBD."