\n<\/p>\n
\n\tTwo leading Wall Street analysts pressed executives at Warner Bros. Discovery about the possibility of breaking up the troubled media conglomerate as executives tried to defend their vision of operating the home of CNN, the Warner Bros. studio and the Max streaming service for the longer term.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cYour company is trading like a company that\u2019s declining in earnings,\u201d said Ben Swinburne, a media-industry analyst with Morgan Stanley during a call between Warner Bros. Discovery executives and investors on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\n\tForged out of the combination of unscripted media kingpin Discovery Communications and the remaining assets of the former Time Warner, Warner Bros. Discovery has been plagued by an immense amount of debt and issues pertaining to the health of its traditional studios and TV networks. The company is trying to fix these operations even as it tries to build a new venue to capture consumers who are increasingly migrating to viewing their content favorites on demand via broadband.<\/p>\n
\n\tBut it keeps meeting up with new distractions along the way.<\/p>\n
\n\tDuring the call, executives acknowledged that the performance of the recent movie release \u201cJoker 2<\/a>\u201d had disappointed and could weigh on performance in its next quarter. Warner Bros. Discovery also took a charge of more than $100 million tied to its games division, with executives noting that they would start to focus more intently on core franchises and cut back on the number of new releases.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cInconsistency also remains an issue at our motion picture studio, as reinforced recently by the disappointing results of \u2018Joker 2,\u201d said Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav<\/a> during the call.<\/p>\n \n\tWarner Bros. Discovery said Thursday that net income came to $135 million, or 5 cents a share, narrowing from a loss of $417 million, or 17 cents a share, a year earlier. In comparison, Fox Corp., a smaller rival, ,posted net income in the most recent quarter of $827 million<\/a>, boosted by political advertising tied to the 2024 election that was its local stations. Warner Bros. Discovery remains heavily invested in entertainment-focused cable networks, which are losing subscribers as they migrate to streaming. The company has no large broadcast assets in its portfolio.<\/p>\n \n\tThe investor call was peppered with questions about the viability of maintaining the company in its current state, with Swinburne asking Warner CEO David Zaslav and Warner CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels about the value of keeping Warner Bros. Discovery\u2019s current portfolio intact. \u201cWhat are the benefits of owning all of these companies?\u201d Swinburne asked, while Bank of America Securities analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich queried the company\u2019s operating team about the possibility of spinning off some assets or acquiring others.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe see the benefits of running this company on an integrated basis every single day,\u201d said Wiedenfels.<\/p>\n