The NBA negotiations contributed to Warner Bros. Discovery reevaluating its business. The company’s heads revealed the NBA was a “triggering event” during its second quarter earnings call. However, the negotiation wasn’t the only reason with the reevaluation.
The company’s earnings report for the second quarter of 2024 included a $9.1 billion non-cash goodwill impairment charge related to the company’s TV networks. That figure comes after an asset reevaluation, which accounts for the difference between an asset’s “fair value,” which is an asset’s estimate at its current market price, and its “book value,” which is the value of an asset found on a company’s balance sheet.
“There’s a systematic process that we go through every quarter, and we’re monitoring for a so-called triggering event,” Gunnar Wiedenfels, CFO for Warner Bros. Discovery, said on Wednesday. “This is clearly where a discussion, like the one with the NBA, comes into play as a triggering event, which then compels us to reevaluate our business case in a strategic planning process with the latest assumptions, the best view of where the industry is and how we play in that in that field. That’s what then leads to a valuation.”
Despite the fact that Warner Bros. Discovery underwent a “full reevaluation,” Wiedenfels noted it was “not a response to one individual factor.” He also emphasized that the outcome was “consistent” from where the linear TV market is as well as what “the investment community reflects in our current share price.”
CEO David Zaslav also refused to speak about how the loss of the NBA may impact Warner Bros. Discovery’s carriage negotiations for its cable assets.
“I’m not going to speak to any specific negotiation or specific piece of content or IP,” Zasalv said, emphasizing that the company has been dealing with carriage agreements for “40 years.” “We’ve been very effective in that business, and it’s our job, whether it’s a food channel or an entertainment channel or a sports channel, to make sure that we have a very robust offering of content that nourishes and excites that audience.”
After too many headlines to count, the NBA officially made a deal with its new rights holders in late July, and the league won’t be airing on TNT for the first time since 1989. The NBA made a deal with Disney, NBC and Amazon that was reportedly collectively worth $76 billion and rejected Warner Bros. Discovery’s $1.8 billion-per-year package. In response, Warner Bros. Discovery and Turner Broadcasting filed a lawsuit against the NBA over its “unjustified rejection” of the media company’s offer. This new rights package will start during the 2025-2026 season.
Though Warner Bros. Discovery lost the NBA, sports remain an important part of the company. Zaslav pointed to the performance of the NCAA Men’s March Madness national championship and the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs as second quarter highlights. The WBD head also noted that TNT Sports will “continue to build a strong portfolio of sports rights.” In the last year, Warner Bros. Discovery has made deals with NASCAR for 2025 to 2031, Roland-Garros tennis for coverage in the U.S. over the next 10 years, Big East men’s and women’s basketball starting in the 2025-2026 season and Mountain West football for a multi-year agreement.
The company expects the strength of TNT Sports to help Max’s launch in the United Kingdom. That launch is expected to happen in 2026. Max’s expansion into Europe and Latin America happened earlier this year and has already resulted in 4 million subscribers.
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