Warner Bros. Discovery shares were down 6% at the close of trading Wednesday, on the heels of the company’s expansive presentation of its plans to overhaul the HBO Max streamer.
WB Discovery shares have been battered over the past year as the company dealt with post-merger cost-cutting and management realignment. On Wednesday, the stock fell 5.8% to $14.05 on what was a down day overall for the market and a down day for most of WB Discovery’s media rivals, including Disney (down 2.5%), Paramount Global (3.3%) and Netflix (down 2%).
The Dow Jones index fell a modest 38.2 points while the Nasdaq dropped 102 points, or 1%. The hourlong WB Discovery presentation was held during trading hours, at 10 a.m. PT on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank. Wall Street’s verdict on WB Discovery’s plans is still not in, but the immediate reaction of investors indicates that the company still has a long road ahead in sorting out its profit centers in the age of streaming.
WB Discovery stock was pushed below the $10 threshold toward the end of last year as the company grappled with internal restructuring and the new regime’s intent to change the strategic course for its core TV and film assets. WB Discovery shares perked up a bit in January and have hovered around the $14-$16 range ever since.
WB Discovery CEO David Zaslav and his core team detailed the plans to relaunch the three-year-old HBO Max platform as simply “Max” as of May 23. The executives raised the curtain on a combined service that showcases the prime assets of HBO, Turner and the Discovery suite of lifestyle channels. Also confirmed were plans for a slew of new shows tied to existing brands, including a highly ambitious 10-year plan for seven seasons of “Harry Potter” drama series, one for each of the original novels and another spinoff of the Warner Bros. TV-produced sitcom juggernaut “The Big Bang Theory,” which aired on CBS from 2007 to 2019.
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