Discovery’s shareholders authorized its coming merger with WarnerMedia on Friday, setting the stage for the 2 corporations to mix in a matter of weeks.
With the shareholder approval, it marks “the completion of one of many few remaining closing circumstances for the merger,” Discovery mentioned in a press release.
The merger cleared a regulatory hurdle in February, making attainable Friday’s shareholder vote, which had been extensively anticipated to go. John Malone, the billionaire chairman of Liberty Media, and the Newhouse household, which owns Condé Nast, management greater than 40 % of the vote amongst Discovery shareholders and gave the merger their blessing almost a yr in the past. Each Mr. Malone and Steven Newhouse will maintain board seats within the new Warner Bros. Discovery firm.
When merged, the newly shaped Warner Bros. Discovery shall be one of many greatest media corporations within the nation, combining HBO, CNN and Warner Bros. film and TV studios, with Discovery’s huge unscripted leisure empire. It would additionally deliver the HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming companies beneath the identical roof. CNN introduced on Friday that its streaming service, CNN+, would debut on March 29 for $6 a month.
With the shareholder vote out of the best way, there are just a few extra steps earlier than the deal can shut. Discovery will proceed going about elevating greater than $30 billion of debt for the brand new firm. AT&T, the telecommunications big that presently owns WarnerMedia, will want a number of extra weeks to complete spinning off its leisure division.
On Friday, AT&T executives regarded fairly prepared to show the web page from their ill-fated foray into Hollywood. At a digital assembly for buyers on Friday, AT&T executives barely talked about WarnerMedia, and targeted as a substitute on broadband and its wi-fi service. “We’re close to the beginning line of a brand new period for AT&T,” John Stankey, the AT&T chief govt, mentioned.