Warner Bros. Discovery Town Hall Kicks Off With Oprah Winfrey

variety.com:

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav brought out the big guns during his address to the new company at its first global town hall for employees Thursday.The newly merged company brought out its most famous employee, Oprah Winfrey, to moderate the event and to help introduce Zaslav to Hollywood.Winfrey is a longtime supporter of the media mogul, who has championed the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) — a cable channel jointly jointed by Warner Bros.

Discovery and Harpo Studio — alongside her since its launch in 2011. The early days of OWN weren’t easy, but Zaslav helped Winfrey rally the troops and kick the Discovery brand into gear with its landmark Tyler Perry development deal in 2012.

Winfrey acknowledged that OWN’s rocky start was a blow ” coming after “25 years of succeeding,” which made “failing publicly” with OWN an “overwhelming” experience.

Winfrey also noted that she had her own connection to the studio where she was (gently) grilling Zaslav. Her first film, “The Color Purple,” was made by Warner Bros.