(CNN) � Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN’s corporate parent, announced Thursday it is establishing a new corporate structure that splits off its cable networks from its growing streaming business.
The restructuring is not a spinoff of cable assets in the way that , but it may ultimately have the same effect.
Warner Bros. Discovery will have two separate operating divisions: “Global Linear Networks� for CNN, TBS, TNT and other cable networks, and “Streaming & Studios� for Max and the company’s film and entertainment studios.
The company said the changes will take effect by mid-2025. Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery () ended the day more than 15% higher.
The new structure will give Warner Bros. Discovery more “flexibility with potential future strategic opportunities across an evolving media landscape,� CEO David Zaslav said in a press release.
Wall Street analysts have been anticipating merger and acquisition activity across the cable television industry contracts in the streaming era, particularly as President-elect Donald Trump takes office with a deregulation agenda.
In a note on Thursday, MoffettNathanson senior research analyst Robert Fishman likened the deal environment to a game of chess � “a struggle for victory that often runs through an intermediate struggle for control of the board’s center.�
“The question is not whether more pieces will be moved around or knocked off the board or if further consolidation will happen � it is a matter of who is the buyer and who is the seller,� Fishman wrote. “The center of the board still remains very much open for the taking.�
Investors on Thursday seemed to cheer Zaslav’s willingness to strike deals � or “strategic opportunities,� as he put it.
One asset sale was announced Thursday afternoon: Hearst Magazines said it was buying MotorTrend Group from Warner Bros. Discovery. The terms were not disclosed.
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