Well, he definitely is doing that in part. But he is not just stripping the new assets for parts and selling them off. My understanding is that the assumption about him is that he sees D+ as the real and ongoing way to make money in television, and that his plan is to make the new Warner acquisitions profitable or desirable, cash in for himself and fellow big investors by getting his stock price up, and then selling the Warners properties off, also for a profit. He has taken on a staggering amount of debt, way more than he can reasonably hope to recoup just in a fire sale.
In other words, WBD as an entity seems to only make financial sense if you assume Zaz has some magic touch, or business secret, that will actually increase the value of the new properties. But the new properties seem to require different kinds of expertise and skills than the ones that made Discovery work. Austerity and financial discipline may help maintain profitable margins on shows that don’t require a lot of creative input. But what impact will it have at HBO and Warners Films? On Tue, 23 Aug 2022 at 8:57 PM 'David Bruggeman' via TVorNotTV < [email protected]> wrote: > I assume, perhaps naively, that Zaz is simply trying to do the same thing > we sometimes see when a company is acquired by assuming debt - a major > sellout to retire the debt and the top leadership jumps ship or is let go > with a precious-metal parachute. > > It's not all that different from the big box stores arriving in a small to > medium sized market, drive out the small local stores, and then wither > away. The value has been extracted so the company cuts their losses. > > David, really feeling the late stage/end-times capitalism lately... > > On Monday, August 22, 2022 at 07:52:02 PM PDT, PGage <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > One of the ongoing questions about Zaz is, does he know something almost > nobody else knows about how to make money by cutting content expenses, or > does his inexperience in dealing with creating content render him blind to > the consequences of burning so many bridges with so much talent? If you are > JJ Abrams, or any of a growing pool of other creatives who has been > directly back stabbed by Zaz, or really almost any > Creative who has now witnessed the betrayals, why would you ever do > business with WBD again? Is it possible the future of TV is nothing but > reruns of Mythbusters? > > On Mon, 22 Aug 2022 at 6:52 PM Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote: > > Bruce Timm and JJ Abrams are both going to be unhappy > > > https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/batman-caped-crusader-jj-abrams-hbo-max-cancel-1235347652/amp/ > > Several other toons also cut > > I hear that next in the block is the letter H… it’s not TV… it’s BO > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/633778785.1193058.1661313450475%40mail.yahoo.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/633778785.1193058.1661313450475%40mail.yahoo.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- Sent from Gmail Mobile -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkY%2BbT_BXFA07xCqYy1h08rGWq0JrQ1VMLM18XVRpivq5QA%40mail.gmail.com.
