With merger pending, Warner Bros' profit drops in the first semester

Avalued at around $110,000 million (€95,278 million), the purchase of Warner Bros Discovery by Paramount Skydance received today “green light” in the UK, but the operation remains blocked in the United States due to an anti-monopoly process.

In a statement released today, WBD reported revenues of 17,180 million dollars (EUR 14,893 million) between January and June, less 8% than in the same period, although the growth of its streaming business partially offset the weakness of film studios and advertising.

Only in the second quarter did WBD make a net profit of USD 149 million (EUR 129,2 million) against USD 1,580 million (EUR 1,370 million) of the same period of 2025.

The company attributed this decrease to accounting adjustments for intangible assets related to the Paramount operation and restructuring costs.

Quarterly revenues fell by 11% to USD 8,720 million (EUR 7,560 million), below USD 9,290 million (EUR 8,054 million) expected by the market, mainly due to the poor performance of its studio division and the fall in advertising.

The turnover of the studio division fell 39% in the second quarter, after debuts such as “Mortal Kombat II” and “Supergirl” failed to repeat last year’s commercial success of “A Minecraft Movie” and “Sinners”. The company said it trusted a recovery in the second half of the exercise, with the premiere of films such as “Digger” and “Dune: Part Three”.

The loss of NBA broadcasting rights also had a negative impact, causing a 22% decrease in advertising revenue and a 17% decrease in television channel division.

However, the absence of costs associated with these sports rights allowed the reduction of operating costs of this unit by 23%.

In the period, the streaming business returned to be the main engine of growth, with its revenues increasing by 10% in the quarter, to over 3,000 million dollars (EUR 2,601 million), driven by HBO Max’s international expansion and the success of series such as “The Pitt”, “Euporia” and “House of the Dragon”.

The company also reported that advertising on its streaming platform increased by 9%, driven by the increase in the number of subscribers of advertising plans, although the absence of NBA games reduced the growth of this segment by 16 percentage points.

In his letter to shareholders Warner’s executive director David Zaslav assured that the company remains focused on “expanding HBO Max, strengthening its content catalogue and improving the profitability of the streaming business,” which he considers one of the group’s main strengths.

These results are released while continuing the acquisition process of Warner Bros Discovery by Paramount. Today, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) concluded that the operation does not pose competition problems and gave its approval.

At the same time, the UK Minister for Culture, the Media and Sport, Lisa Nandy, decided “not to issue a Public Interest Intervention Notification”, since the additional legally binding guarantees and commitments she has obtained so far from Paramount “provide a series of protections that will help safeguard the continued availability of a wide range of broadcasting and demand services in the United Kingdom” as well as the continuity of its distinctive editorial identities.

However, the transaction remains suspended in the United States after California and 11 other states filed a lawsuit to block it for anti-monopoly reasons. The trial is scheduled for March 2027.

Paramount's CEO, David Ellison, reiterated that if the operation is carried out, his intention is to integrate HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single streaming platform, which would have about 200 million subscribers.