David Zaslavs top priority at Warner Bros. Discovery: Get the cash flowing again
Summary
Malone has co-strategized and cheered Zaslavs effort to focus the company on maximizing free cash flow, which is defined as net income plus depreciation and amortization minus capital expenditures. 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. 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. 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 thats quickly moving to digital distribution. The companys content decisions have been based on strategic corrections, such as eliminating made-for-streaming movies and cutting back on kids and family programming that dont materially entice new subscribers or hold existing ones, executives determined.