Amid acquisition rumors, Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Executive Officer David Zaslav confirms that he is not planning to sell the company. The virtual meeting was held in Zoom and lasted for 75 minutes which consisted of several employees, as reported by The Verge.
(Photo : Amanda Edwards/Getty Images for Discovery, Inc.)
BEVERLY HILLS, CA - JULY 26: President and CEO, Discovery, David Zaslav speaks onstage during the Discovery, Inc. Executive portion of the Discovery Communications Summer TCA Event 2018 at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on July 26, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California.
While he acknowledged several problems such as cost-cutting and layoffs, he addresses that "We are not for sale, absolutely, not for sale." He described the company as having the strongest hand in the industry as they have what it takes to be the biggest entertainment streaming company globally.
The meeting was led by the CEO and introduced division heads of HBO and HBO Max Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys, Warner Bros Television Group Char Channing Dungey, and Warner Bros Motion Picture Group Toppers Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy.
Deadline confirmed that Zaslav also added that what is happening to the company is not surprising as the entertainment industry has been struggling lately. To present a sample, Bloy discussed the drop in subscribers to Netflix this year. He stated to the employees that they are doing what they can and many should have patience.
He also announced that the company is planning to release 15-20 theatrical titles for all genres. For television, Dungey has presented clips for HBO Max, the company's top supplier. This includes The White Lotus and The Last of Us trailers.
Rumors of Selling the Company
Earlier this month when The Hollywood Reporter stated that Warner Bros was so close to partnering with Comcast. This company owns NBCUniversal and the streaming service Peacock.
These rumors are rooted when the 10-year DC plan has not been growing. Adding to this is that the company has a large number of debts. A report from last month also revealed that despite conducting several layoffs this year after the conclusion of the $43 billion Discovery-WarnerMedia merge last April, expert more mass workforce layoffs in the upcoming months.
Also Read: HBO Max Removes 70 Employees-Warner Bros. Discovery Preparing for Next Streaming Platform?
The decision of the company to shelf the Batgirl movie, directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, was also questioned as the production have already finished shooting and editing. The movie was also snubbed during the DC Comic-Con Panel last July.
According to a report from The New York Post, the cancellation was done because of its poor quality. But different reports stated that the company wanted a tax-write off. No confirmations have been released regarding the vaulting as it was never mentioned in the meeting.
The movie was considered as one of the most expensive cinematic castoffs as the source of the report stated that the budget was more than $100 million.
Related Article: Discovery Plus, HBO Max Set to Conjoin by 2023 as CEO David Zazlav Rewrites the Firm's Image
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Written by Inno Flores
