☀️WBD’s Dark Q4 as Turnaround Signs Start Too Late
Yeah, the NBA killed ads, no movies = no 💰, etc. -- but oh, what could have been if there was no sale!
Well, you can tell what a great Q4 it was at WBD when Zaz chose to open the earnings call talking profusely about how great the movie business is . . . and the company didn’t release any movies in Q4.
Yeah, it was that kinda quarter at WBD. These topline Q4 numbers are terrible.
REVENUE: -6% YoY
ADS: -7%
AFFILIATE/SUBSCRIPTION: -3%
STUDIO/CONTENT: -9%
NET LOSS: -$252M
And the FY2025 numbers aren’t much better (a lot more on that below — let’s go back in the time machine for some fun comps!).
Basically, there’s a reason this company’s stock has hovered around $10 a share for the last 2 years (ex. bidding war), about -60% from where the company started in 2022 at $24 a share.
Conversely, and perhaps sadly, this was pretty much the bottom point! Once the cable TV declines were off the books by mid-year (aka DISCO GLOBAL), studios & streaming (aka WARNER BROS.) actually had a pretty bright future.
Which perhaps is why the buyers swooped in when they did — i.e., once the DISCO GLOBAL split plan was announced — buy low!
One buyer (the one with the approved deal) is seeing the upside in the future Streaming and Studios numbers that I’ll lay out shortly.
The other company trying to get a deal is . . . going to tie the company right back into those linear TV declines that Wall Street doesn’t even want to touch with your hand.
Remember — cable TV networks are a business that even the country’s largest cable TV provider chose to exit.
So, let’s wheel in the cable TV clunker with the new streaming V8 engine and movie business mag wheels and pop the hood.
Warning — this will likely only get your “Why is this company even being sold?!” hot takes even hotter.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN
Once the continual DISCO GLOBAL profitability declines were off the books with the spinoff in Q2 ’26 — turns out good ol’ WARNER BROS finally had a growth narrative to tell!