Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) reported a 13% revenue jump and consistent streaming subscriber growth for its fiscal first quarter Tuesday. The results don’t include first-quarter performance from WarnerMedia, which Discovery bought this month.
The company reported revenue of $3.16 billion and net income of $456 million.
The combined WarnerMedia-Discovery company has a market valuation of more than $50 billion.
The newly combined Warner Bros. Discovery, a result of the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger that closed April 8, debuts as a pure-play media company that investors can compare to Disney (NYSE:DIS), Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA)
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hief Executive Officer David Zaslav hopes to show Wall Street the new entity’s assets, including streaming services HBO Max and Discovery+, can compete globally for market share against the biggest entertainment companies in the world.
Zaslav took his first steps toward streamlining the company’s operations last week when he shut down CNN+ just weeks after its launch. Zaslav plans to combine HBO Max and Discovery+ into a bundled streaming service. The company hasn’t announced if the new combined product will be renamed or when that change will take place.
Warner Bros. Discovery said it added two million Discovery-related streaming subscribers in the quarter for a total of 24 million. That’s consistent with the two million added in the fourth quarter.
Last week, AT&T said HBO and HBO Max had 76.8 million subscribers at the end of the first quarter of 2022. The announcement marked the final time WarnerMedia would be part of AT&T’s earnings report.
WBD shares began Tuesday down $1.62, or 7.5%, to $19.88.
