Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD 1.91%) is a multinational media and entertainment company that owns a number of iconic media properties, including:
- Warner Bros. brands
- Discovery Channel and Discovery+
- HBO and streaming service Max
- CNN
- DC Comics
- Eurosport
- HGTV
- Food Network
- OWN
- TLC
- Travel Channel
The company was formed in 2022 when AT&T (T 0.8%) spun off WarnerMedia so that it could merge with Discovery. AT&T shareholders received a 71% stake in the newly formed Warner Bros. Discovery, while Discovery shareholders got the remaining 29%.
Read on to learn about what company owns Warner Bros. Discovery today, including its largest shareholders and board of directors, and how you can invest in Warner Bros. Discovery stock.
Overview
Who is the owner of Warner Bros. Discovery?
Warner Bros. Discovery is a publicly traded company, meaning it's owned by its shareholders. The company was formed in 2022 after AT&T spun off WarnerMedia (previously Time Warner) and merged it with Discovery, forming a new entertainment and streaming services company.
Warner Brothers Pictures was established by the Warner brothers -- Harry Warner, Albert Warner, Samuel Warner, and Jack Warner -- in 1923. The brothers had started purchasing movie theaters in 1903 and started making their own films about a decade later. The company became a pioneer in early sound films and was producing about 100 films per year by the 1930s.
Warner Brothers produced countless classic films, including Casablanca, A Streetcar Named Desire, Rebel Without a Cause, The Exorcist, and My Fair Lady. It also expanded into television, producing hits like The Dukes of Hazzard and Murphy Brown.
Eventually, the company became two separate entities, Warner Communications and Warner Bros. Inc. Warner Communications merged with Time Inc. to form Time Warner in 1990, with Warner Bros. becoming its own division in the new company. Time Warner produced blockbusters like Goodfellas, The Matrix, the Harry Potter series, and the Ocean's Eleven series, as well as long-running TV sensations like Friends and ER.
AT&T acquired Time Warner in 2018 for around $85 billion and renamed it WarnerMedia.
Meanwhile, Discovery was founded in 1982. In addition to the Discovery Channel, it owned the Animal Channel, Science Channel, and TLC. It acquired Scripps Networks Interactive in 2018, adding the Food Network, Travel Channel, and HGTV to its lineup.
WarnerMedia and Discovery completed a merger in 2022 to become Warner Bros. Discovery. AT&T got $43 billion in cash and debt from the deal, with its shareholders receiving a 71% stake, while the remaining 29% stake went to Discovery's shareholders.
Largest shareholders
Who are the largest shareholders?
Institutional investors own about 63% of Warner Bros. Discovery shares, while insiders own just over 9%. Let's take a look at Warner Bros. Discovery's largest shareholders:
Individuals
- John Malone is the former CEO of Tele-Communications, Inc. before its merger with AT&T and the former CEO and chairman of Discovery Holdings Co. He owns roughly 18.58 million shares.
- Kenneth Lowe was president and CEO of The E.W. Scripps Co. and chairman of the board, president, and CEO of Scripps Networks Interactive, which was acquired by Discovery in 2018. He owns over 1.07 million shares.
- Paul Gould is a managing director at investment bank Allen & Co. He is a past Discovery board member who now sits on the Warner Bros. Discovery board. He owns over 820,000 shares.
- Geoffrey Yang is a founding partner and managing director of private equity and venture capital firm Redpoint Ventures and founder and CEO of Performance Health Sciences (d/b/a Apeiron Life). He was a previous AT&T board member who now sits on the Warner Bros. Discovery board. He owns more than 192,000 shares.
- Samuel Di Piazza, Jr. was the global CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers, or PWC. He is the current chair of the Warner Bros. Discovery board and a past AT&T director. He owns almost 129,000 shares.
Institutional investors
- Vanguard Group Inc. The Vanguard Group is a Pennsylvania-based registered investment advisor that pioneered low-cost index funds. It owns more than 248 million shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, representing a 10.14% stake. The Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTI 1.14%), the Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VOO 1.13%), and the Vanguard Mid-Cap Index Fund (VO 1.6%) are among the largest holders of the stock.
- BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) is the world's largest asset manager and owner of iShares ETFs. BlackRock owns about 165 million shares of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., a stake of 6.74%. Its iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV 1.11%) owns more than 24 million shares.
- State Street Corp. (STT 2.91%): Boston-based State Street Corp. is an investment management firm and the largest custodial bank in the globe. It's also the owner of SPDR ETFs and the creator of the first S&P 500 ETF, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY 1.2%). State Street Corp. owns about 145 million shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, or a 5.93% stake. The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLC 0.54%) and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY 1.2%) are among the top holders of the stock.
- Harris Associates LP. Harris Associates LP is a Chicago-based investment management firm with approximately $102 billion in assets under management. It owns roughly 104 million Warner Bros. Discovery shares, representing a 4.26% stake.
- Geode Capital Management LLC. Geode was founded by Fidelity in 2001 before becoming a separate entity in 2003. Today, it manages Fidelity's stock index funds as a sub-advisor. Geode owns almost 56 million Warner Bros. Discovery shares, a 2.27% stake. The Fidelity 500 Index Fund (NASDAQMUTUALFUND:FXAI.X) is a top shareholder.
Board of Directors
Board of directors
Who is on the board of directors of Warner Bros?
The Warner Bros. Discovery board of directors consists of the following 11 individuals:
- Samuel Di Piazza, Jr., board chair: Di Piazza had a 36-year career with PricewaterhouseCoopers, or PWC, and served as its global CEO from 2002 until retiring in 2009. Di Piazza served on the AT&T board from 2015 until 2022. He has been a Warner Bros. Discovery director since 2022.
- David Zaslav, president and CEO: Zaslav took the helm of Discovery in 2006 and spearheaded the merger between AT&T's Warner Media and Discovery, which was completed in 2022. In his previous career at NBC Universal, he played a key role in the launch of CNBC.
- Li Haslett Chen is the founder and CEO of Howl, a platform for content creators and brands that democratizes access to retail's next frontier -- social commerce. She has been a Warner Bros. Discovery board member since 2022.
- Richard Fisher was president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas from 2005 until March 2015. He served on the board of AT&T from 2015 to 2021 and has been a Warner Bros. Discovery board member since 2022.
- Paul Gould has served at Allen & Co., an investment bank, since 1972. He has held roles as managing director and executive vice president. Gould has served as a financial advisor to various Fortune 500 corporations and advised on multiple major media company acquisitions. He became a Discovery board member in 2008.
- Debra Lee served as chairman and CEO of BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. (PARA 0.76%), from 2006 until retiring in 2018 after joining BET Networks in 1986. Lee is the founder and chair of the Leading Women Defined Foundation, a nonprofit education and advocacy organization in Los Angeles. She became a Warner Bros. Discovery board member in 2022.
- Kenneth Lowe previously served as president and CEO of The E.W. Scripps Co. from 2000 to 2008. He served as chairman of the board, president, and CEO of Scripps Networks Interactive after its split from The E.W. Scripps Co. in 2008 until it sold to Discovery Inc. in 2018. Lowe became a Warner Bros. Discovery director in 2023.
- John Malone: Malone served as CEO of Tele-Communications, Inc. for more than 25 years until its merger with AT&T in 1999. He went on to serve as CEO and chairman of the board of directors of Discovery Holding Company from 2005 to 2008, when it merged with Discovery. Malone is chairman of the boards of Liberty Media Corporation, Liberty Broadband Corporation, and Liberty Global PLC. He became a Discovery board member in 2008.
- Fazal Merchant is a senior advisor to Sixth Street Partners and various media and technology-related endeavors. He retired in 2020 as co-chief executive officer of Tanium Inc., a subscription-based global cybersecurity and IT management company. He previously served as CFO of DreamWorks Animation SKG and in several executive roles at DirectTV. He became a board member in 2022.
- Paula Price was the executive vice president and CFO of Macy's (M 2.46%) from 2018 until 2020. She was a full-time senior lecturer at Harvard Business School from 2014 to 2018 and remains a visiting executive. She is a certified public accountant (CPA) who previously served as executive vice president and CFO of Ahold USA, a U.S. grocery retailer. She has been a board member since 2022.
- Geoffrey Yang is a founding partner and managing director of Redpoint Ventures, a global private equity and venture capital firm. He also founded Performance Health Sciences (d/b/a Apeiron Life), where he has served as CEO and as a director since April 2018. He served as an AT&T director from 2016 to 2022 and joined the Warner Bros. Discovery board in 2022.
How to invest
How to invest in Warner Bros. Discovery
Because Warner Bros. Discovery is a publicly traded company, anyone with a brokerage account can buy its stock. Follow these four steps to start investing.
- Open and fund a brokerage account. You can open a brokerage account online in just a few minutes. You'll need to provide some personal info, such as your date of birth, Social Security number, and employment details. Once you deposit funds in your account, you'll be ready to start trading.
- Make a budget. Determine how much you can afford to invest in Warner Bros. Discovery and whether you want to make a one-time investment or a recurring investment. It's important to diversify your portfolio, so any single stock should only account for a small fraction of your overall investments.
- Do your homework. You should only invest in a company after doing your due diligence. Make sure you understand how Warner Bros. Discovery makes money, its competitors, its competitive advantages, and potential headwinds it could face.
- Place your trade. Once you're ready to buy stock in Warner Bros. Discovery or any other publicly traded company, you'll need to enter the ticker on your broker's platform. For Warner Bros. Discovery, it's WBD. Then, indicate the number of shares you want to buy or the dollar value of your investment if your brokerage supports fractional shares. You'll also need to indicate whether you're placing a market order or a limit order. After you've provided the requisite information, you'll get a preview of your order. If the information is correct, go forth and execute that trade.
Related investing topics
FAQ
Who owns Warner Bros. FAQ
Who is Warner Bros. owned by?
Warner Bros. Discovery is a publicly traded company that's owned by its shareholders. Institutional investors own more than 63% of its shares. The Vanguard Group, BlackRock Inc., and State Street Corp are its top shareholders.
Is Warner Brothers owned by HBO?
No, HBO is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Is Warner Brothers owned by Disney?
No, Warner Brothers isn't owned by Disney (NYSE:DIS). However, Warner Brothers Discovery and Disney recently partnered to offer their streaming services Disney+, Hulu, and Max in a bundle.
