Shares of Discovery and AT&T moved in different directions in the wake of the proposed merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery.
UPDATED: Shares of Discovery and AT&T moved in different directions in the wake of the proposed merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery. Discovery shares opened up 10% Monday — before the stock tumbled into negative territory. The stock was down 1.8% as of 11:08 a.m. ET. Shares of AT&T, which will get $43 billion in cash as part of offloading WarnerMedia into the new venture, were up 2.3% in midmorning trading after popping up as much as 5%. Under the pact, AT&T shareholders will control 71% of the new company, while Discovery shareholders would own 29%. The new company also will assume debt carried by WarnerMedia. The deal is expected to close in mid-2022 subject to approval by regulators and Discovery shareholders. Discovery chief David Zaslav will lead the combined WarnerMedia-Discovery, which is yet unnamed. The companies claimed the combo will yield at least $3 billion in cost synergies annually — and that it will give it more firepower to scale a global direct-to-consumer streaming business that pulls together assets including HBO Max and Discovery Plus.
