Tuesday 15 November 2022 08:38 PM WarnerBros Discovery boss David Zaslav reveals HBO lost $3B last year after ... trends now
WarnerBros Discovery CEO David Zaslav said HBO lost $3 billion last year after the company spent almost $7 billion on content.
Speaking at RBC's global investment conference on Tuesday, Zaslav said the company would have to make serious changes to hit its projected $12 billion earnings for 2023, adding that 'it's going to be hard' to reach the goal.
In its latest earnings report, the company said it missed out on $2.3 billion over a decrease in licensing and distribution revenue from its streaming service, signaling a drop in demand over its vast library.
As HBO Max prepares to merge with Discovery+ next year, Zaslav said the company plans to sell off some of its shows to cut costs.
The CEO said: 'We looked at [HBO Max] and we said, 'Most of this is not being watched. Or, we don't think anybody is subscribing because of this.'
'We can sell it non-exclusively to somebody else,' he added. 'Look at this huge library that we have.'
It comes as the streaming service is set to put more focus on in-house programing, like Game of Thrones' House of the Dragon, after shelving other projects, like the $90 million Batgirl film.
WarnerBros Discovery CEO David Zaslav (pictured) said HBO lost $3billion last year after splurging $7billion on content
He said low-rated shows and bigger budget movies made only for the streaming service would be removed from the platform and sold off
It comes as Zaslav continues to come up with ways to find $3billion in savings by the end of the year while shifting focus on the streaming service to in-house programing , like Game of Thrones' House of the Dragon (above)
Although Zaslav did not say which shows were going to be on the chopping block, he said the streaming service is being 'sized up,' and that low-rated shows and bigger budget movies made only for the streaming service would be the first to go.
The CEO reaffirmed that the cuts to save his company money would fall on HBO, which went from making more than $2billion
