Warner Bros Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) might sell a 20% stake in its studio and streaming business in order to get “full value for it” before the company splits in two next year.
“We want to get full value for it, and we’ve had some serious people asking about ways to get their hands on that,” Warner Bros Discovery CFO and future Global Networks CEO Gunnar Wiedenfels said at the Bank of America Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference.
In June, the company confirmed that it would separate into two companies with one focused on streaming and the other on its television networks. The former will include Warner Bros Television, Warner Bros Motion Picture Group, DC Studios, HBO, and HBO Max, along with the Warner Bros film and TV libraries.
The Discovery Global Networks company will house CNN, TNT Sports, Discovery, Discovery+ and Bleacher report, as well as a 20% stake in the streaming and studio entity.
Executives believe they can further reduce debt in the still-conjoined companies by selling off the 20% stake in the streaming business that will be passed onto Discovery Global.
According to Bloomberg, any potential transaction would be a “trade off” because Warner Bros would want to get “full value for it,” Wiedenfels said. “It’s a huge building block in this whole transaction, to get an equity injection at the right valuation,” he added.