Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming unit, which includes HBO Max and Discovery+, saw a growth of just 1.1 million subscriptions in the last quarter, falling short of Wall Street’s expectations despite popular debuts like House of the Dragon and The White Lotus.
The company reported an operating loss of $217 million on $2.45 billion in revenue, which was still an improvement from last year’s $728 million losses.
However, the overall revenue of $11 billion and losses of $2.1 billion missed expectations due to restructuring charges from the merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery.
Despite this, CEO David Zaslav expressed confidence in the company’s globally recognized franchises and revealed plans to make a series of new films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings fantasy novels.
The company is also rebooting the DC Comics franchise, aiming to tell a single story over the next eight to 10 years with 10 film and television projects. Warner Bros.
Discovery is aiming to create a profitable streaming business but has yet to turn a profit on its HBO Max and Discovery+ services.
Paid subscribers for the services increased to 96.1 million last quarter, a smaller gain than expected.
The company also confirmed plans to relaunch HBO Max in the spring as a combined service with Discovery+, expanding its offerings.
»Warner Bros. falls short of Wall Street’s expectations«