Discovery shareholders approved the upcoming merger with WarnerMedia on Friday, paving the way for the combination of the two companies in a matter of weeks.
The shareholder approval marks “the completion of one of the few remaining terms for the merger,” Discovery said in a statement.
The merger removed a regulatory hurdle in February, enabling Friday’s shareholder vote, which was widely expected to succeed. John Malone, the billionaire chairman of Liberty Media, and the Newhouse family, which owns Condé Nast, have more than 40 percent of the votes among Discovery shareholders and gave their blessing to the merger nearly a year ago. Mr. Malone and Steven Newhouse will serve as directors in the new company.
Following the merger, the newly formed Warner Bros. Discovery are one of the largest media companies in the country, with the film and TV studios of HBO, CNN and Warner Bros. are combined with Discovery’s vast, unscripted entertainment empire. It also brings the streaming services HBO Max and Discovery+ under the same roof. CNN announced Friday that its streaming service, CNN+, will debut on March 29 for $6 a month.
With the shareholder vote out of the way, there are only a few steps left before the deal can be closed. Discovery will continue to raise more than $30 billion in debt for the new company. AT&T, which currently owns WarnerMedia, will need a few more weeks to divest its entertainment division.
On Friday, AT&T executives seemed all set to turn the page of their fateful foray into Hollywood. At a virtual investor meeting on Friday, the executives barely mentioned WarnerMedia, focusing instead on broadband and AT&T’s wireless service.
“We are at the dawn of a new era for AT&T,” said John Stankey, its CEO.
