Liberty's John Malone: Warner-Discovery Will Be Global Powerhouse

The blockbuster WarnerMedia-Discovery deal is especially good news for HBO Max, billionaire media mogul John Malone told CNBC’s David Faber.

In an interview that aired Monday on CNBC, Malone said his previous reservations about HBO Max’s ability to be a dominant player in the crowded digital-streaming landscape will be addressed once the AT&T-owned service is under the same roof as Discovery.

“I thought they were going to struggle with getting the kind of subscriber growth in the U.S. that they were hoping for. And I think, in fact, that’s true,” said Malone, a Discovery board member whose voting stake in the company is more than 25%.

Malone thinks the new firm could join Netflix and Disney+ as a true global powerhouse.

“I think we are not only going to be the third such platform, but I think we’ll be very competitive with the other two in terms of being able to satisfy the entertainment and curiosity and information needs of the world, basically, a worldwide platform,” Malone said.

Disney+ ended the fiscal second quarter with 103.6 million subscribers, according to the company. Netflix said last month it had almost 208 million subscribers worldwide.

AT&T said in April that HBO and HBO Max had a combined  44.2 million subscribers in the U.S. and nearly 64 million globally.

HBO Max, WarnerMedia’s flagship streaming property, debuted in the U.S. last May and plans an international expansion. In Malone’s view, that push will be aided by Discovery’s global know-how.

Malone made his comments in a wide-ranging interview with CNBC about the deal announced last week involving Discovery and AT&T’s WarnerMedia, which the telecom giant acquired less than three years ago.

If the transaction receives regulatory approval, WarnerMedia’s various media and entertainment properties including CNN, HBO and the Warner Bros. studio would be spun out of AT&T and combined with Discovery’s brands including HGTV, Food Network and Discovery Channel.

It would position the new company — which has yet to receive a new name — as a more formidable competitor in the fiercely competitive streaming video wars. In addition to WarnerMedia’s HBO Max, Discovery’s signature direct-to-consumer platform, Discovery+, launched in January.