Gunnar Wiedenfels is getting his own company to run. It will soon be open season for media M&A. Discovery+ and HBO Max are going their separate ways. Those are a few takeaways from Warner Bros Discovery’s plan to split announced Monday.

Warner Bros. Discovery on Monday announced a plan to separate into two independent public companies. The move creates a streaming giant and a separate company for its global networks.

Said one top executive: "It’s a deal that never had a shot and shouldn’t have been done. But they’ve also done a terrible job.”

At the end of March, Warner Bros. Discovery had gross debt of $38.0 billion, which is comprised of “total debt” ($37.4 billion) and financial leases ($535 million). The 2022 merger of WarnerMedia (owned by AT&T) and Discovery, Inc. created more than $50 billion of debt.

Warner Bros. Discovery is splitting up after just over three years, and Wall Street is cheering. The spinoff will create a slew of new questions.

Monday's news that Warner Bros. Discovery is splitting into two companies has fueled chatter about which execs will end up leading the new entities.

WBD CEO David Zaslav will become president and CEO of Streaming & Studios, with CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels in charge of Global Networks.

The other company is split as Global Networks (CNN, TNT Sports, Discovery, led by Gunnar Wiedenfels)

The WBD breakup comes after Comcast/NBCUniversal made its own moves into two separate companies, though that split may be better overall than WBD’s. “Comcast is still keeping two of the better assets,” said Sarma, pointing to NBC’s broadcast network and the Bravo library (which includes the cash-printing “Real Housewives” franchise).