WarnerBros Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s leading concern: Cash circulation

A couple of months earlier, after a prolonged and sobering evaluation of WarnerBros Discovery‘s organization, Chief Executive David Zaslav provided his department heads a ruthless objective.

Pretend your systems are household services, Zaslav stated. Start from scratch and focus on complimentary capital, he included, according to individuals knowledgeable about the matter. Then, Zaslav stated, return to me with a brand-new tactical strategy for your system.

Zaslav’s regulation has actually resulted in what will total up to countless layoffs at the business by the middle of this month, stated individuals, in addition to considerable tactical modifications at CNN, the WarnerBros movie studio and other departments.

The CEO formed his strategy after he took a difficult take a look at the financial resources of the integrated WarnerMedia-Discovery, an offer that closed inApril Zaslav figured out the business was a mess. AT&T mishandled WarnerMedia through disregard and profligate costs, he ‘d chosen, according to individuals knowledgeable about his conversations. The individuals asked not to be recognized since the talks were personal.

WarnerBros Discovery’s overall financial obligation of about $50 billion was 10s of billions more than the business’s market capitalization. About $5 billion of that financial obligation is due by the end of 2024 after settling $6 billion considering that the close of the merger. The business might press back the maturity on some bonds if essential, however rates of interest have actually increased significantly, making refinancing much more expensive.

To pay for financial obligation, any business requires money– preferably, from operations. But the near-term patterns recommended WarnerBros Discovery’s organization was becoming worse, not much better. The business revealed complimentary capital for the 3rd quarter was unfavorable $192 million, compared to $705 million a year previously. Cash from running activities was $1.5 billion for the very first 9 months of 2022, below $1.9 billion a year previously.

Along with the increase in rates, Netflix‘s international profits and customer development had actually slowed, triggering financiers to bail on peer stocks– consisting of WarnerBros Discovery, which had actually invested the previous 3 years establishing streaming services HBO Max and Discovery+. Moreover, the marketing market was collapsing as business evaluations flagged. Zaslav stated last month the advertisement market has actually been weaker than at any point throughout the 2020 pandemic.

WarnerBros Discovery shares have actually fallen more than 50% considering that WarnerMedia and Discovery sealed the deal inApril Its market price stands at about $26 billion.

In addition to task cuts, Zaslav’s regulation stimulated the removal of material throughout the business, consisting of ditching CNN initial documentaries, WarnerBros exterminating “Batgirl” and “Scoob 2: Holiday Haunt,” and HBO Max getting rid of lots of little-watched television series and films, consisting of about 200 old episodes of “Sesame Street.”

The instant choices permitted Zaslav to benefit from tax performances that feature modifications in technique after a merger. WarnerBros Discovery anticipates to use up to $2.5 billion in content disability and advancement write-offs by2024 The business, which has about 40,000 staff members, has actually scheduled $2 billion in synergies for2023 Overall, Zaslav has actually assured $3.5 billion in expense cuts to financiers– up from a preliminary guarantee of $3 billion.

The underlying reasoning behind Zaslav’s cost-cutting technique fixated turning WarnerBros Discovery into a capital generator. Not just would cash be required to settle financial obligation, however Zaslav’s pitch to financiers would be to see his business as a shining light in the altering home entertainment world– a tradition media business that in fact materializes cash.

“You must be determining us in complimentary capital and EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization],” Zaslav stated a financier conference run by RBC Capital Markets last month. “We’re driving for free cash flow.”

Zaslav is attempting to provide WarnerBros Discovery a running start on what might be a year of scaling down amongst big media and home entertainment business. His technique appears clear: Cash generation will coax Wall Street into seeing his business as a market outperformer. But he’ll require to keep together a business comprised of 10s of countless ex-Time Warner and after that ex-WarnerMedia staff members who have actually been through round after round of reorganizations and layoffs.

“It isn’t going to be overnight, and there’s going to be a lot of grumbling because you don’t generate $3.5 billion of operating synergies without, you know, breaking a few eggs today,” WarnerBros Discovery board member and media magnate John Malone informed CNBC in an interview last month.

Malone has actually co-strategized and cheered Zaslav’s effort to focus the business on taking full advantage of complimentary capital, which is specified as earnings plus devaluation and amortization minus capital investment.

“Whenever I talk to David, the first thing I say is manage your cash,” Malone said last month. “Cash generation will ultimately be the metric that David’s success or failure will be judged on.”

Even before Zaslav gave his directive to all of the division heads, the new CEO was already thinking about how to boost cash flow. That was at least part of the motivation to eliminate CNN+ just weeks after it launched, which had a spending budget of about $165 million in 2022 and an eventual $350 million, according to people familiar with the matter.

Warner Bros. Discovery owns streaming services, linear cable networks, a movie studio, a TV production studio and digital properties. It owns DC Comics, HBO, CNN, Bleacher Report, and oodles of reality TV programming. It has sports rights both internationally and domestically, including the NBA on TNT.

Zaslav hopes his reconstruction of Warner Bros. Discovery will deliver two results. First, it will showcase the company as a fully diversified content machine, featuring top brands and intellectual property in prestige TV (HBO), movies (Warner Bros.), reality TV (Discovery), kids and superheroes (Looney Tunes, DC), news (CNN) and sports (NBA, NCAA March Madness).

Second, he wants it to prove that a modern media company that’s spending billions on streaming video can also generate billions in cash flow. The company has estimated 2023 EBITDA will be $12 billion. Warner Bros. Discovery will generate more than $3 billion in free cash flow this year, about $4 billion next year and close to $6 billion in free cash flow in 2024, according to company forecasts.

That would give Zaslav a selling point to investors compared to other legacy media companies. Disney has generated just $1 billion of free cash flow over the past 12 months and analysts estimate the company will have about $2 billion in 2023. That’s despite growing Disney+, its flagship streaming service, by 46 million subscribers during the period and owning a theme park business that generated $28.7 billion in revenue for the fiscal year — up 73% from a year earlier.

The low free cash flow relates largely to the money drain from streaming services and Disney’s large investments in theme parks. Over the past 12 months, Disney had $4.2 billion in operating income from its media properties, down 42% from a year ago. Returning Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a town hall last month he will prioritize profitability over streaming growth — a change from when he left the post in 2020. Outgoing boss Bob Chapek put into place a Dec. 8 price hike for Disney+ and other streaming services to accelerate cash flow.

“Discovery was a free cash flow machine,” Zaslav said earlier this year of his former company, which he ran for more than 15 years before merging it with WarnerMedia. “We were generating over $3 billion in free cash flow for a long time. Now, we look at Warner generating $40 billion of revenue and almost no free cash flow, with all of the great IP that they have.”

When AT&T announced it was merging WarnerMedia with Discovery Communications last year, Zaslav immediately went on a Hollywood “listening tour,” sensing an opportunity to become the new king of Tinseltown. Many Hollywood power players thought Zaslav would dedicate his first year as CEO to currying favor with the industry given his lack of history with scripted TV or movies. He even bought producer Bob Evans’ house for $16 million in Beverly Hills, a sign some thought meant he wanted to be Hollywood’s next mogul.

A year later, Zaslav isn’t the king. In fact, many consider him a villain.

It turned out Zaslav’s top priority as CEO of a large public company wasn’t to win over Hollywood. Rather, it was to convince investors his company could survive and flourish as a relative minnow against much larger sharks, including Apple, Amazon, Disney and Netflix, in an entertainment world that’s quickly moving to digital distribution.

Zaslav’s focus on investors before Hollywood makes business sense. The company must be financially sound before it can make big investments. But he’s taken a hit, reputationally, with some in the creative community.

“HBO Max is widely acknowledged to be the best streaming service. And now the execs who bought it are on the verge of dismantling it, simply because they feel like it,” tweeted Adam Conover, the developer and host of “The G Word” on Netflix and “Adam Ruins Everything” on HBO Max, inAugust “Mergers give just a few wealthy people MASSIVE control over what we watch, with disastrous results.”

One Hollywood expert who consulted with Zaslav to provide him suggestions prior to he entered the task stated the WarnerBros Discovery CEO has actually disregarded 90% of his suggestions on how to handle business.

Time will inform whether Zaslav’s year-one choices have long lasting implications with a rejected Hollywood neighborhood. Critics of Iger at Disney at first stated he did not have “creative vision” when he initially took control of as president almost 20 years earlier.

Zaslav can counter that WarnerBros Discovery hasn’t reduced material costs. The business invested about $22 billion on shows in2022 But he’s likewise made expense awareness a point of pride.

“We’re going to spend more on content — but you’re not going to see us come in and go, ‘Alright, we’re going to spend $5 billion more,'” Zaslav stated inFebruary “We’re going to be measured, we’re going to be smart and we’re going to be careful.”

The business’s material choices have actually been based upon tactical corrections, such as getting rid of made-for-streaming films and cutting down on kids and household shows that do not materially attract brand-new customers or hold existing ones, executives figured out. WarnerBros Discovery’s HBO continues to produce hits, consisting of “White Lotus,” “Euphoria,” “House of the Dragon” and “Succession,” under the management of Casey Bloys.

Perhaps Zaslav’s greatest issue is what to do with the NBA.

Like other media business, WarnerBros Discovery leases the rights to bring video games and pays billions to leagues for the opportunity. WarnerBros Discovery presently pays around $1.2 billion annually to put NBA video games on TNT. In 2014, the last time the league struck a handle TNT and Disney’s ESPN, carriage rights increased from $930 million to $2.6 billion annually.

Negotiations to restore TNT’s NBA rights will start in earnest next year. Zaslav has actually stated he has little interest in paying a substantial boost simply to bring video games once again on cable television networks– a platform that loses countless customers each year.

“We don’t have to have the NBA,” Zaslav statedNov 15 at a financier conference. “With sport, we’re a renter. That’s not as good of a business.”

The issue for Zaslav is keeping tradition pay television afloat might be his finest method to keep capital coming, and putting NBA video games on TNT might be his finest opportunity to do that. In the 3rd quarter, WarnerBros Discovery’s cable television network organization had actually changed EBITDA of $2.6 billion on $5.2 billion of profits. That’s compared to a direct-to-consumer organization that lost $634 million.

If WarnerBros Discovery is going to pay billions of dollars a year for the NBA, Zaslav desires an offer to be future-focused. He has the high-end of having NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s ear for the next 3 years since the NBA will be on TNT through completion of the 2024-25 season.

“If we do a deal on the NBA, it’s going to look a lot different,” Zaslav stated.

WarnerBros Discovery understands how to produce NBA video games and airs a studio program, “Inside the NBA,” which is commonly considered the very best in expert sports. It’s possible Zaslav might strike a handle another bidder, such as Amazon or Apple, which might permit WarnerBros Discovery to produce their video games while providing him a bundle of video games that included a lower price.

Ideally, Zaslav wishes to do sports offers that consist of ownership of copyright. This is likewise interesting Netflix, The Wall Street Journal reported last month. Acquiring leagues gets Zaslav out of the rental organization. But while smaller sized expert sports leagues, such as Formula One and UFC, are owned by media business (Malone’s Liberty Media and Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor, respectively), it appears not likely NBA owners would accept offer WarnerBros Discovery a stake in the league.

Silver stated last month at the SBJ Dealmakers Conference he was open to rights offers structured in unique methods.

“We’re in the enviable position right now of letting the marketplace work its magic a little bit, you know, to see where the best ideas are going to come from, what’s going to drive the best value,” Silver stated.

It’s likewise possible Zaslav might leave the NBA entirely. While “Inside the NBA” co-host Charles Barkley just recently signed a 10- year agreement to stick with WarnerBros Discovery, it consists of an out stipulation if Zaslav does not re-up the NBA, according to The New York Post.

Live sports aren’t always vital to many streaming services’ success. Netflix, Disney+ and HBO Max all have no live sports– a minimum of in the meantime.

The one certainty is Zaslav’s choice will be directly based upon how an offer impacts the business’s complimentary capital.

“It’s how much do we make on the sport?” Zaslav stated. “When I was at NBC, when we lost football [in 1998], we lost the promo of the NFL, which was a substantial concern. Then you have the general property worth without the sport. So you need to assess all that.”

SEE: John Malone on streaming platform differences