Transcript: Warner Bros.' Wobbly Future
Its plan? Strip-mine IP and slash debt as its core Hollywood businesses continue to struggle
Sean McNulty (00:34):
Welcome to The Ankler Podcast. This is Sean McNulty from The Wakeup newsletter at The Ankler here in New York City on Friday, February 23rd. I'm joined by Elaine Low in Los Angeles, Richard Rushfield, and Peter Kiefer will be joining us in just a little bit. Although Elaine, The Beatles are finally getting their story told after all these years. Are you excited?
Elaine Low (00:54):
Gosh, the greatest story that's never been told, right? Can't wait to see it in what? Four different installations? What's the deal here?
Sean McNulty (01:01):
Yeah. So Sony picked up a project from Sam Mendes, a fantastic director who's doing four movies on The Beatles, one for each one. Pete Best has to go somewhere else. But yeah, in 2027, so we have a three years here, Elaine, before they will hit theaters. All going to hit theaters in the same year. Not sure what the plan is yet, but yes.
Elaine Low (01:18):
2027. But will it be timely still by then, Sean?
Sean McNulty (01:21):
I don't know if the kids are going to care in 2027, Elaine, but yeah, that's a good question. It may time out. So anyway, we shall see. But before we get started, just a reminder, you can catch The Ankler crew over on LA's number one NPR station and Southern California's Public Radio flagship radio station 89.3 LAist every Thursday throughout the day as part of their Entertainment Thursday programming during Morning Edition, AirTalk, and All Things Considered. Elaine and I were both on there yesterday, so always fun to do that. And just a reminder, you can reach Richard, Elaine, and myself here at the podcast anytime at podcasts@theankler.com. If you listen on the Apple Podcasts, want to leave a rating review, or wherever you listen, we appreciate that as well. That's always a nice thing to do if you enjoy the podcast and helps us out as well.
(02:09):
All right, this week Peter's giving us a little tour of the restoration of Bob Evans' old estate in Beverly Hills that Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is undertaking. And we'll get into Richard's field guide to navigating Hollywood personalities, a five-part series he's been doing this week. And I'm told there's one on reporters, Elaine. So I think we both need to read that today.
Elaine Low (02:27):
Boy, I think we're in for it.
Sean McNulty (02:28):
I'm not sure it's going to be a good way for us to end our week. But anyway, you can check all those pieces out over at theankler.com, and Richard will give us his insights in that in just a little bit. But Elaine, one of the guides was not how to navigate an earnings call. See what I did there? We're going to transition to an earnings call conversation.
Elaine Low (02:44):
That's great. It's great. Very smooth.
Sean McNulty (02:46):
Yeah, it's really not my best. It's Friday morning people. I've just listened to Warner Bros. Discovery for an hour and 15 minutes and dove into an earnings report. So my brain will be what it is, but what we'll do, we can. The big WBD Q4 earnings report dropped this morning. Wall Street, definitely not really feeling it. The stock has been down around 11 or 12 percent this morning so far here as we record. Elaine, we have not talked yet, so you're getting fresh conversation people. So Elaine, what's standing out for you here?
Elaine Low (03:15):
Look, it's a beautiful day out here in Los Angeles. The rains have finally passed us. Not such a great morning here for Warner Bros. Discovery, which missed on both earnings and revenue, right? Greater per share loss than expected, significant drop in studio revenue, which they're attributing partly to the strikes, but also in the network segment. Ad sales, not so hot, right? I mean, there were some decent, if you look at the full year numbers, there are some bright spots there, but we're looking at purely just this past quarter, right?