Billionaire media veteran John Malone will not run for re-election on the Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) board and will become chair emeritus after his term expires on June 2, the date of the annual shareholders meeting.
Malone, 84, will continue to attend board meetings and offer strategic advice. As of 2024, financial data provider LSEG said he owned approximately 0.8% of WBD stock.
Regarded as one of the sharpest minds in media strategy, the chairman of Liberty Media supported David Zaslav in the $43bn merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery that closed in April 2022 and created WBD, where Zaslav serves as CEO.
However the company’s stock price has plummeted since the merger and is currently hovering below $8, down 25% year-to-date, and down approximately 67% since the merger closed, when the stock was around $24.
Zaslav has struggled with a heavy debt load that has led to lay-offs over the past two years. Building the streaming operation is a key mandate, mirroring priorities at other media behemoths, and that part of the business has turned a profit in recent quarters. Zaslav and his team have targeted 150m global Max subscribers by the end of 2026.
Last December, in an acknowledgement that declining linear television was holding back growth, the company said it would split into two by the middle of 2025, separating the linear and streaming & studios operations.
Malone said he was confident WBD was “on the right path” and looked forward in his new role to “helping to shape the growth trajectory as the company evaluates important strategic and structural opportunities ahead”.
WBD intends to nominate Anton Levy for election to the board in the summer, keeping the number at 13 directors, 12 of whom will be independent.
In a proxy filing on Friday, WBD said Zaslav’s annual compensation increased by around 4% to $51.9m in 2024.
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