WBD reportedly cuts sports staff as CEO takes hard look at future league deals
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Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) has reportedly laid off dozens from its Sports department, on a day where CEO David Zaslav suggested "we don't have to have the NBA."
WBD Sports let go of about 70 people in a round of cuts affecting Turner Sports, Bleacher Report and studio operations in Atlanta, Sports Business Journal reports.
Combined with open positions that will remain unfilled, that's a reduction of a little more than 10% of the department.
âOur reality is we must evolve to position WBD and our Sports division for long-term success against an environment that includes a challenging macroeconomic forecast, as well as headwinds from the accelerated changes in our media industry and business model," says WBD Sports Chair/CEO Luis Silberwasser in a memo, according to SBJ.
Meanwhile, Zaslav faced financial conference questions about how sports fit into the company's plans in a year of heavy change - and he continued to signal that everything at WBD is getting a hard look from his team.
âI like the NBA. We have another couple of years on the NBA. And Adam (Silver, NBA Commissioner) is a friend of mine for 20 years.â he said. âBut weâre going to be very disciplined. We donât have to have the NBA. And if we do a deal on the NBA, itâs going to look a lot different.â
That supports his previous hints that future WBD sports deals may need to include equity participation in sports to protect broadcast rights, and a bigger emphasis on the shift to streaming from linear TV. A deal with the NBA "has to be a deal for the future. It can't be a deal for the past."
Meanwhile, Turner's Inside the NBA is "probably the No. 1 show in sport, with Barkley and Shaq and Ernie," Zaslav said. "Our ratings for the NBA are 30%, 40% higher than when itâs on another platform.â
Overall, he acknowledged the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery has been "messier" than expected. But he didnât want to buy a company âthat was really well runâ because "It's hard to make it better."
Overall, the advertising market is weaker now than at any point during the COVID-19 slowdown in 2020, Zaslav said - and if the market doesn't improve, "it's going to be hard" to hit a $12B earnings forecast for next year.
See Seeking Alpha's full transcript of Zaslav's remarks at the RBC conference.