Discovery Stockholders Approve $43 Billion WarnerMedia Merger
variety.comJennifer Maas TV Business WriterDiscovery investors voted in approval of the company’s $43 billion acquisition of WarnerMedia from AT&T to create Warner Bros.
Discovery during a special meeting of stockholders Friday, marking one of the final formal steps before the transaction can close.The deal, a spinoff of WarnerMedia from AT&T, is expected to be completed early in Q2, with insiders telling Variety the estimated date is between April 11-28.
The merger has already received approval from the U.S. Department of Justice and the boards of directors of both AT&T and Discovery.Discovery chief David Zaslav will serve as president and CEO of the newly merged company, Warner Bros.
Discovery, with WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar expected to exit. Zaslav’s first major hire for WBD was Chris Licht as the new chief of CNN, following the ousting of Jeff Zucker after a WarnerMedia investigation found he hadn’t disclosed a consensual relationship with now-exited CNN marketing chief Allison Gollust.
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