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Zazmania Takes Over Hollywood as the Warner-Discovery Plot Thickens

He's having dinner with Ari and Bryan, holing up at the Polo Lounge, and meeting with Jason Kilar's direct reports. As he works on the $43 billion Warner-Discovery combination, David Zaslav seems to be all over town, and the subject of an endless game of Telephone... if Biden's antitrust enforcers don't rain on the victory parade.

David Zaslav
Zaslav came in speaking some hard truths to the media industry about legacy costs, blind Netflix envy, and free cash flow. Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
Matthew Belloni
November 5, 2021

Talk to people at Warner Bros. or HBO these days and invariably they’ll ask: So… what are you hearing from Discovery? And vice versa: What’s the buzz at Warners? There’s a reason for that, of course. As AT&T’s $43 billion punt of WarnerMedia to Discovery sails toward a possible closing date in mid-2022, everyone—top to bottom, but especially at the top—is looking for an angle.