Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav expressed hope president-elect Donald Trump will make changes and put policies in place that would ease media-industry consolidation — which he said would be “a real positive.”
Referring to Trump’s election victory, Zaslav said, “We have an upcoming new administration. It’s too early to tell, but it may offer a pace of change and an opportunity for consolidation that may be quite different, that would provide a real positive and accelerated impact on this industry that’s needed.”
Analysts expect Trump’s second turn in the White House to spur M&A activity across industries. As president, Trump will likely reverse course from the Biden administration’s aggressive regulatory approach that observers say has chilled dealmaking for large-scale mergers and acquisitions.
Related Stories
Zaslav made the comments on WBD’s third-quarter 2024 earnings call Thursday. “These are great companies, and if the best content is going to win there needs to be some consolidation in order to have these businesses be stronger and have a better consumer experience,” Zaslav said, echoing comments he has made before.
Popular on Variety
Zaslav had met with Paramount’s then-CEO Bob Bakish in December 2023 to explore a possible WBD-Paramount merger. WBD and Paramount execs continued discussions through April of this year and the companies engaged in “mutual due diligence,” but Warner Bros. Discovery never submitted a formal bid for Paramount Global, according to a Paramount SEC filing last week (which identified WBD as “Party A”). Ultimately, Paramount and controlling shareholder Shari Redstone sealed a deal with David Ellison’s Skydance Media; that deal is targeted to close in the first half of 2025.
At the Allen & Co. conference in July, Zaslav said he hoped the next U.S. presidential administration will pave the way for industry consolidation, while he declined to specifically endorse a candidate. “We just need an opportunity for deregulation, so companies can consolidate and do what we need to, to be even better,” he said.
Earlier in the year Zaslav said WBD would be “opportunistic” about seeking M&A deals in the next two to three years. “I think some companies will be for sale,” he said at an investment conference in May. “I think there’s likely going to be some consolidation. There are a lot of players. There are a lot of players that are losing a lot of money.”
On the Q3 call, Zaslav, as he has before, said that “this is an industry that really needs to meaningfully consolidate, and it’s really driven by the consumer experience.”
“Consumers turn on a TV set and they see 16 apps, and each of those [have] different pricing, and you’re sitting there with your phone and googling where a show is or where a sport is, and you’re going from one to another, and there’s so many that you have to go to a separate page,” the WBD CEO said. “It’s just not a good consumer experience. It’s not sustainable.”
RELATED: Donald Trump Presidency Could Make 2025 a ‘Breakout Year for M&A’ With Deregulation on the Table
