WBD CEO Calls 2023 A 'Year of Building'

David Zaslav

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) CEO David Zaslav promised 2023 will be WBD's year after the media giant reported fourth quarter earnings results that missed across the board on Thursday, reports Yahoo! Finance.

"This promises to be a very exciting year for our company," he told investors during the company's Q4 earnings call. "The bulk of our restructuring is behind us...we are one company now."

Zaslav, who touted multiple times that the company's strategy "is working," stressed net leverage will be below 4x by the end of this year.

Cord cutting and the drop in ad sales have hit Warner Bros. Discovery hard. Thursday, the company reported its 4th quarter 2022 earnings and reported a $2.1 billion loss. This includes a $1.85 billion write-down and $1.2 billion in restructuring expenses.

This works out to be about $22.8 million lost every day in the 4th quarter of 2022.

The embattled media giant also announced it will be adjusting its $3.5 billion cost-saving synergy targets to $4 billion over the next two years. That will be accompanied by restructuring charges of $5.3 billion.

Zaslav emphasized the company's IP will be a clear driver in its success, announcing a new production deal for multiple "Lord of the Rings" movies, as well as a continued focus on its revamp of the DC Universe.

"DC is the biggest value creation opportunity for us," Zaslav said, referencing the new "Superman" and "Batman" movies set for release in 2025, along with the upcoming "The Flash" film.

He also teased the much-anticipated relaunch of HBO Max/Discovery+ this spring, saying more details will be released at a press event scheduled for April 12. Zaslav also confirmed recent reports that Discovery+ will keep running as a standalone streaming service alongside the soon-to-launch combo platform.