The Financial Times published a report on the continued decline in Warner Bros. Discovery’s stock price. WBD was formed in 2022 from the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery, with the goal of helping the two companies compete with the likes of Netflix and Disney.
Now, though, Warner Bros. Discovery is apparently considering selling off much of its gaming business.
According to the Financial Times, the company has been looking for ways to reverse its share price decline, including plans for a spin-off. However, such a split would clearly present too many challenges and could lead to years of legal challenges.
Instead, WBD is “looking to sell smaller assets,” the Financial Times said. The Financial Times quoted “people familiar with the matter” as saying they were considering “a proposal to sell a stake in Polish broadcaster TVN or Warner’s video games business.”
The report correctly states that Warner Bros. Games Division owns the rights to Harry Potter. Keep in mind that a stake in the games division doesn’t mean everything, so Warner Bros. can retain the rights to many of its biggest IPs, including Mortal Kombat and Harry Potter. “Equity” may also mean that they are simply looking for investors willing to provide capital in exchange for a share of profits.
It’s fair to say that Warner Bros.’ gaming division has had mixed success. On the one hand, Hogwarts Legacy was the best-selling game of 2023 and was still selling millions of copies in 2024. $300 million in losses. Inexplicably, Warner Bros. themselves said they wanted to make Hogwarts Legacy a live-streaming game, right around the time Killing the Justice League (the live-streaming service itself) crashed and burned.
During this time, they also launched Mortal Kombat 1. But we haven’t heard anything since. MK1 is also getting a massive new expansion this year.
