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David Zaslav Has Admitted Defeat

By splitting Warner Bros. Discovery in two, its C.E.O., as well as chief architect John Malone, finally acknowledged that the math never worked on their declining TV business, and the thesis of combining prestige (HBO) and populism (Discovery) was doomed from the start.

David Zaslav
The announcement this morning that Warner Discovery will split into two businesses is basically an admission that Zaslav has failed. Photo: Artur Widak/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Matthew Belloni
June 10, 2025

Given what we know now, and the stunning destruction of value and livelihoods at Warner Bros. Discovery over the past three years, it’s especially tragic to think back to those first few months after David Zaslav became C.E.O. of the new company. The grandstanding about the “unique” power of smashing together prestige (HBO) with populist (Discovery). The dubious boasts about controlling “40 percent of the world’s greatest I.P.,” via Warner Bros. This 2022 banger, uttered with a straight face: “Together, this combination makes us the best media company in the world.”