Warner Media is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by Steve Ross as Warner Communications, and Time Warner was created in 1990, following a merger between Time Inc. and the original Warner Communications. The company has film, television and cable operations, with its assets including WarnerMedia Studios & Networks (consisting of the entertainment assets of Turner Broadcasting, HBO, and Cinemax as well as Warner Bros., which itself consists of the film, animation, television studios, the company's home entertainment division and Studio Distribution Services, its joint venture with Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, DC Comics, New Line Cinema, and, together with CBS Entertainment Group[6], through its Warner Bros.
Entertainment subsidiary, a 50% interest in The CW television network); WarnerMedia News & Sports (consisting of the news and sports assets of Turner Broadcasting, including CNN, Turner Sports, and AT&T SportsNet); WarnerMedia Sales & Distribution (consisting of digital media company Otter Media); and WarnerMedia Direct (consisting of the HBO Max streaming service).
Despite spinning off Time Inc. in 2014, the company retained the Time-Warner name from 1990, also becoming Time Warner in 2003, until 2018. In 2018, after AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner, the company was renamed Warner Media. On October 22, 2016, AT&T officially announced that they intended on acquiring Time Warner for $85.4 billion (including assumed Time Warner debt), valuing the company at $107.50 per share. The proposed merger was confirmed on June 12, 2018, after AT&T won an antitrust lawsuit that the U.S. Justice Department filed in 2017 to attempt to block the acquisition.
The merger closed two days later, with the company becoming a subsidiary of AT&T. The company's current name was adopted a day later. Under AT&T, the company moved to launch a streaming service built around the company's content, known as HBO Max. WarnerMedia refolded Turner's entertainment-based networks under a singular umbrella unit on August 10, 2020, through a consolidation of the WarnerMedia Entertainment and Warner Bros. Entertainment assets into a new unit, WarnerMedia Studios & Networks Group. On May 17, 2021, nearly three years after the acquisition, AT&T decided to leave the entertainment business and announced that it had proposed to relinquish its ownership of WarnerMedia and merge it with Discovery, Inc. to form a new publicly traded company, Warner Bros. Discovery, under Discovery Inc.'s CEO David Zaslav. The deal was closed on April 8, 2022.
The company's previous assets included Time Inc., TW Telecom, AOL, Time Warner Cable, AOL Time Warner Book Group, and Warner Music Group; these operations were either sold to others or spun off as independent companies. The company was ranked No. 98 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.
Amid the challenges that impacted people and companies worldwide over the last two years, we have seen how a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion inspires people while giving them strength and perspective. No matter where or how we worked together, we aimed to fulfill our collective purpose. We make the world work better for everyone. And we do it together. But the work doesn’t stop. We are eager to continue the transparency with which we’ve shared our journey—and to continue to focus on making our company, and the world around us, better.
Our company values are our unique identity. Together, we deliver on our commitment to each other to live our best lives, do our best work, and fulfill our purpose.
At Warner Bros Canada, our technology makes the world work for everyone, and our people make it possible. We move fast because the world can’t wait, and we innovate in ways no one else can for our customers and communities. By joining Warner Bros, you are part of an ambitious team of change-makers who have a restless curiosity and a drive for ingenuity. We know that your best work happens when you live your best life and share your unique talents, so we do everything we can to make that possible. We dream big together, supporting each other to make our individual and collective dreams come true. The future is ours, and it starts with you.