The combined media company started off its first full day of trading Monday in the green. Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery were up almost 6% on Monday nearly an hour after opening with the 9:30 a.m. ET bell at $24.08 a share.AT&T, the telecom giant that off-loaded WarnerMedia to Discovery after four tumultuous years, also appeared to benefit. The company’s stock was up more than 5% at $19.30 on Monday at just before 10:30 a.m. ET. The AT&T stock had opened at $18.89 per share.Discovery completed its $43 billion merger with WarnerMedia on Friday. The combined companies boast as list of top entertainment brands that includes Warner Bros. film studio, HBO, TNT, CNN, as well as Food Network, HGTV, TLC and Animal Planet. The hope is that the wider scale of the offerings will make the conglomerate better able to compete with the likes of Netflix and Disney and will bolster their streaming services.But there are risks. To close the deal, Discovery has amassed billions of dollars in debt. It is hoping to identify some $3 billion in cost-saving synergies. That likely will result in layoffs.David Zaslav, the hard-charging Discovery CEO and mastermind of the deal, will oversee the two companies. He has looked to de-layer the company, bidding farewell to WarnerMedia chief Jason Kilar and Warner Bros. head Ann Sarnoff last week while announcing a new leadership structure.AT&T plans to use the proceeds from the WarnerMedia spinoff to pay down net debt, which stood at $156.2 billion at the end of 2021. The company needs more capital as it plans to invest more heavily in 5G technology.
© 2022 Variety Media, LLC.