Warner Bros. Discovery stock surges as it restructures its business

CNN
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Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN’s corporate parent, announced Thursday it is establishing a new corporate structure that splits its cable networks off from its growing streaming business.

The restructuring is not a spinoff of cable assets, as Comcast recently announced, but it may ultimately have the same effect.

Warner Bros. Discovery will have two separate operating divisions: “Global Linear Networks” for CNN, TBS, TNT and other cable networks, and “Streaming & Studios” for Max and the company’s film and entertainment studios.

The company said the changes will take effect by mid-2025. Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) rose 11% after the restructuring was announced.

The new structure will give Warner Bros. Discovery more “flexibility with potential future strategic opportunities across an evolving media landscape,” CEO David Zaslav said in a press release.

Wall Street analysts have been anticipating merger and acquisition activity across the cable television industry contracts in the streaming era, particularly as President-elect Donald Trump takes office with a deregulation agenda.

This is a developing story and will be updated.