The Warner Bros. Thread | Will NOT merge with Paramount...capitalism is still terrible

[TerwillikerInst]

14 minutes ago, Jonwo said:

I think the nerds on here are not understanding how business works again, they're selling music rights, not the entire company. 

Yeah, it's a good thing all actions exist totally divorced from context and thus can't be used as evidence of the extremely obvious. lol

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again-

 

On 5/8/2023 at 4:20 AM, TerwillikerInst said:

He's a used car dealer. And a used car dealer doesn't buy up a creaking old wreck just so he can spend decades lovingly restoring it back to its former glory. 

 

On 5/8/2023 at 4:20 AM, TerwillikerInst said:

 

Like, announcing a slew of insanely expensive brand new LOTR movies, a brand new DC Universe, and new Harry Potter-stuff is kind of an odd thing to do for a company which is in debt and still technically losing money. 

 

Those IPs haven't exactly been gaining in value in the past few years so he needs to juice them up a bit just long enough for someone to buy them. Hell, some will probably not have any big money put into them before the sale happens. 

 

That's probably why he hired Gunn and is giving him a lot of leeway. He knows that by the time it actually gets going in earnest, it won't be his problem anymore. 

 

 

[Jonwo]

Calling the CEO of a company a used cars salesman just comes across as bitter and jealously. You made not like him but you can't say it wasn't successful at Discovery, he's only a year into his tenure at WBD, it'll take time to see the end result.

[BadOlCatSylvester]

35 minutes ago, TerwillikerInst said:

Yeah, it's a good thing all actions exist totally divorced from context and thus can't be used as evidence of the extremely obvious. lol

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again-

 

 

 

 

Holy shit, you articulated my exact thoughts. This is one of the most obvious pump and dump schemes I've seen in a while. There has also been recent chatter about Netflix looking to potentially buy a major Hollywood studio. Put two and two together, and it's not all that far fetched to expect them to get Warner next year once Zaslav's true plans are done being executed.

[Jonwo]

6 minutes ago, BadOlCatSylvester said:

Holy shit, you articulated my exact thoughts. This is one of the most obvious pump and dump schemes I've seen in a while. There has also been recent chatter about Netflix looking to potentially buy a major Hollywood studio. Put two and two together, and it's not all that far fetched to expect them to get Warner next year once Zaslav's true plans are done being executed.

You're clearly spending too much time on here if you think it's a pump and dump scheme. 

[FunkMiller]

7 minutes ago, BadOlCatSylvester said:

Holy shit, you articulated my exact thoughts. This is one of the most obvious pump and dump schemes I've seen in a while. There has also been recent chatter about Netflix looking to potentially buy a major Hollywood studio. Put two and two together, and it's not all that far fetched to expect them to get Warner next year once Zaslav's true plans are done being executed.

 

Netflix owning DC probably wouldn't actually be worse. And that's horrifying.

[BadOlCatSylvester]

1 minute ago, Jonwo said:

You're clearly spending too much time on here if you think it's a pump and dump scheme. 

I'll be happy to eat my words if Zaslav actually turns out to be committed and Warner thrives in the next couple of years. But for now, I'm not feeling too hopeful about all this.

[Cappoedameron]

4 hours ago, Belakor said:

Yeah no way the JamesGunn verse is happening, it looks like it may if the new Superman movie is really good and makes a ton of cash. in the mean time I can see them pushing the breaks on anything but Batman related productions. Which is smart IMO, they have a talented guy making good adaptations and expanding a small Gotham universe.

 

And yeah, someone is buying WB & DC, maybe Apple, maybe Universal, who knows.

 I'd bet serious money not only is the Gunnverse DOA but the new Harry Potter reboot never sees the light of day. Zaslav is just doing what he can till he sells the company next year probably to Universal.

 

Edited June 23, 2023 by Cappoedameron

[JWR]

 

Zaslav might not care about what some randos online say about him. And maybe all of these decisions will pay off on in the long term. But it's easy to understand why there's not much reason to have faith when you lay it all out.

[Jonwo]

I think people on here just need to take a chill pill, perhaps go see a movie or take a walk and not get so obsessive about one CEO. 

 

 

[TestPattern]

52 minutes ago, Jonwo said:

I think people on here just need to take a chill pill, perhaps go see a movie or take a walk and not get so obsessive about one CEO. 

 

 

It's not about the CEO, for me at least, it's about the debt that WB has accrued and the measures that they are forced to take to pay it down.

I actually understand and agree with Zaslav's moves, that doesn't mean I like it.

[robertman2]

I think Zaslav should try and save money by not paying himself 300 million dollars a year!

[Eric Lasagna]

1 hour ago, Jonwo said:

I think people on here just need to take a chill pill, perhaps go see a movie or take a walk and not get so obsessive about one CEO. 

 

 

If you don't like people saying mean things about a capitalist CEO who will make more money than you will ever make in your lifetime, you can just put some of these users on your Ignore list. Because while you may not like these posts, constantly complaining about it the way you are isn't any better. Just throwing that nugget of information out there.

[WittyUsername]

Even if I wanted to (which I obviously don’t), I don’t think I could find any way to defend Zaslav’s choices. Yeah, the company’s in debt, but the man has been lining his own pockets like crazy for the past couple of years, while selling off parts of the company he bought, and showing no regard for creatives. He is not the kind of boss I’d ever want to work for if I were a creative, that’s for sure. 

[TestPattern]

16 minutes ago, WittyUsername said:

Even if I wanted to (which I obviously don’t), I don’t think I could find any way to defend Zaslav’s choices. Yeah, the company’s in debt, but the man has been lining his own pockets like crazy for the past couple of years, while selling off parts of the company he bought, and showing no regard for creatives. He is not the kind of boss I’d ever want to work for if I were a creative, that’s for sure. 

 

The figure that is often sighted as "Zalsav's salary" was a 1 year anomaly in 2021 due to a $200 million stock option grant due to closing the merger. it wasn't 200+ million in cash.  His cash salary was about $20 million

His 2022 salary was $39 million total with just $3.1 million in salary and the rest in stock and non-equity grants. That's in line with the average Hollywood Big 4 CEO. 

[Jonwo]

2 hours ago, Eric Wayne said:

If you don't like people saying mean things about a capitalist CEO who will make more money than you will ever make in your lifetime, you can just put some of these users on your Ignore list. Because while you may not like these posts, constantly complaining about it the way you are isn't any better. Just throwing that nugget of information out there.

At this point, the ignore list is getting longer and longer. It's not that I don't like the comments, it's just constant complaining to the point that is boring. 

[ChipDerby]

Zaslav COULD be priming WB to be sold again, sure.

 

But he's also just doing what every CEO is doing. Cutting everything down to the bare minimum to increase shareholder profits. These people don't care about anything else. 

 

"that's just business" nah it's shitty business. You're running a skeleton crew of people to run the company while you and your buddies rake in all the profits. This is why people go on strike.

[Cappoedameron]

55 minutes ago, ChipDerby said:

Zaslav COULD be priming WB to be sold again, sure.

 

But he's also just doing what every CEO is doing. Cutting everything down to the bare minimum to increase shareholder profits. These people don't care about anything else. 

 

"that's just business" nah it's shitty business. You're running a skeleton crew of people to run the company while you and your buddies rake in all the profits. This is why people go on strike.

 

There's literally a quote from Hollywood Reporter that says with every stupid thing coming out of Zaslav's mouth the strike lasts another 2 weeks. He's that blind.

 

Also we need to stop trying to be like oh he ran Discovery he can run a successful company. He ran a TRASH reality TV filled garbage brand. There's a difference between Discovery brands and WB brands. That's like comparing a can of Chef Boyardee to authentic Ravioli at a restaurant.

Edited June 23, 2023 by Cappoedameron

[Human]

8 minutes ago, Cappoedameron said:

 

That's like comparing a can of Chef Boyardee to authentic Ravioli at a restaurant.

Give the great chef more respect.  Chef Boyardee did start as an authentic dish at a very successful restraunt that introduced Italian food to middle America and was very helpful supplying soldiers in World War II.  That comparison implies Zaslav headed a major film company, then did Discovery, and is now back to a major film company.  

[Cappoedameron]

2 minutes ago, Human said:

Give the great chef more respect.  Chef Boyardee did start as an authentic dish at a very successful restraunt that introduced Italian food to middle America and was very helpful supplying soldiers in World War II.  That comparison implies Zaslav headed a major film company, then did Discovery, and is now back to a major film company.  

That comparison draws more to what people are buying in cans at the grocery store and comparing it to freshly made cooked to order ravioli at a restaurant.

 

[excel1]

1 hour ago, ChipDerby said:

Zaslav COULD be priming WB to be sold again, sure.

 

But he's also just doing what every CEO is doing. Cutting everything down to the bare minimum to increase shareholder profits. These people don't care about anything else. 

 

"that's just business" nah it's shitty business. You're running a skeleton crew of people to run the company while you and your buddies rake in all the profits. This is why people go on strike.

 

This is all relative though.

 

Employees at a company that has been overstaffed for 2 years often don't know that it is overstaffed, they simply adjust to the environment. When someone comes and tweaks it so staffing is more inline with where it should have been previously, the employees see workloads go up and suddenly think "omg we are an overworked skeleton crew!". 

 

"Raking in profits" doesn't happen if they stop spending on key revenue generators. Growing the top line is best way to grow the bottom line long term. Expenses, i.e. labor, are simply something to be properly managed. If we start to see Zaslav obviously under-investing in major revenue generators, i.e. if he gave Gunn a $150m spending limit on Superman: Legacy? Major major mistake. But "not giving a blank check" is different than underinvesting. 

 

We have not seen Zaslav do that so far so it isn't fair to say he is just cutting everything across the board. Batgirl is not an example of that either. Possibly the most responsible thing to do with DC is a hard cut is that there's a bit of a break, but hard to do that when the company has already paid for the finished products and needs some money coming in. Batgirl was still going to need some money put into it and would only reinforce the DCEU they're trying to kill.

 

Quite the contrary, Zaslav seems to be giving the marque filmmakers of Villanueve, Todd Phillips, Matt Reeves, and James Gunn the room to work. No doubt the paychecks for Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga on Joker 2 are going to be enormous. 

 

No doubt his team of intelligent people are reviewing assets that are overvalued or not generating much revenue and seeing if they flip them quick for cash. 

Edited June 23, 2023 by excel1