A mammoth SEC filing by Discovery today offers some tidbits on its upcoming merger with WarnerMedia – like the new Nasdaq stock symbol, WBD – and pages detailing back-and- forth calls between David…
They spoke, they met in early March, hired investment banks and signed an NDA, haggled over terms and then shut down it all down in mid-April. The disagreement was over 1) how shares of the new company would be split between AT&T vs Discovery shareholders, and 2) the amount of debt WarnerMedia would be saddled with when it was handed over.
According to the nearly 700-page filing, they came back to the table several times, finally agreeing that AT&T’s stockholders would receive 71% and load WarnerMedia with $43 billion in debt. Shareholders are also being asked to vote for executive compensation and severance, so-called golden parachutes, although the numbers are not yet including in this preliminary filing. The executive team has not been named save for Zaslav and Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels, who will keep the same role.
There were some internal WarnerMedia financials, including a projection that its revenue would hit $45 billion by 2025 .