Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav also spoke at the NYTimes’ DealBook Summit this week, saying that the industry was experiencing a “generational disruption” and that this has presented more challenges than he had anticipated to succeed with the merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery.
Striking a similar tone to Disney’s Bob Iger, Zaslav blamed previous leadership at Warner Bros. for irresponsible spending, referring on multiple occasions to the “frothy” environment where billions were spent to produce and acquire streaming content for no clear financial benefit. Those decisions led Warner Bros. to force Zaslav into “tough decisions” on canceling projects and staff reduction.
When asked about his decision to call off the releases of the two completed movies BATGIRL and COYOTE VS. ACME, Zaslav maintained that the public discussion on these matters is misguided. The money to produce these movies had already been spent, and the decision he was faced with was whether to double down by investing millions more to take them through a worldwide release.
“Tough decisions” such as these helped the company pay down billions of dollars in its outstanding debt and positioned the company to “attack for growth” in 2024. When asked whether “attack for growth” might involve attempting to acquire rival studios such as Paramount or Universal, Zaslav neither confirmed nor denied that possibility.