Warner Bros. Failure May Mean More Show, Movie Cancellations

Potential buyers didn't seem to appreciate the power of 'Batdance.'

David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery  (WBD) - Get Free Report, has been on a profitability mission for the past year.

Following the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery last year, he’s been cutting costs, and shelving entire films and TV shows in order to get them off the books, all in a quest to find $3.5 billion in cost-saving.

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Zaslav has been accused of being ruthless, but it seems he has his limits, and won’t just take any old deal.

Here Are the Details of the Warner Bros. Discovery Saga

Warner Bros. Discovery has been attempting to sell its back catalog of film soundtracks, which includes scores for the various Batman films, Prince’s 1989 “Batman” album (featuring the immortal jam “Batdance”) as well as John Willliams’ score for “Harry Potter,” and the musical numbers from “The Wizard of Oz.”

(To avoid any confusion, Warner Bros. Discovery’s music holdings are separate from the record label Warner Music Group, home to the back catalogs of Green Day, Madonna, Tom Petty and hundreds more, and which was sold off in 2004 and now operates as a separate entity.) 

Zaslav had reportedly been looking for bids around the $2 billion mark, and was disappointed that they were all around the $1.2 to $1.3 billion frame. (Do people just not appreciate “Batdance” enough?) According to IndieWire, “these offers were made during very early discussions, with no bankers involved.” 

The issue at hand seems to be that WBD had stipulations in its contract that allowed it to retain control over how certain valuable soundtracks are used. (We’re not sure what that means, exactly, but presumably some of the heartwarming songs from “The Wizard of Oz” couldn’t appear in commercials for, say, beer or Preparation H.)

Because of the less-than-expected offers, Warner Bros. Discovery is now considering walking away from the table and dropping the idea of a sale, but no final decisions has been made. A partial sale is possible as well, but the company is considering holding onto a few key properties like the soundtrack to the sitcom “Friends.”

The merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery cost $40 billion, and the gross debt measured at $49.5 billion as of the most recent quarter.