Warner Media, LLC. was an American multinational entertainment and media conglomerate headquartered at 30 Hudson Yards in Manhattan, New York City. After being acquired by AT&T in June 2018, WarnerMedia was reorganized as a privately-owned subsidiary.
The corporate predecessors to WarnerMedia are Time Inc. and Warner Communications Inc. (WCI) By the late 1960s, both companies began repositioning themselves as major players in cable television and mass media through multiple acquisitions. In 1990, both companies merged to form Time Warner, which was the world’s largest media conglomerate for 18 years. Time Warner expanded by forming Time Warner Cable in 1992 and acquiring Turner Broadcasting System in 1996.[5] Its 2001 merger with AOL, which formed AOL Time Warner, became one of worst business deals in corporate history, which led the company to revert its name to Time Warner in 2003.[6]
Heavy losses from within AOL led Time Warner to pursue a years-long divestment strategy that culminated with Time Inc.’s spin-off in 2014.[7] Despite spinning off Time Inc., the Time Warner name was kept until June 15, 2018, when AT&T completed its $108.7 billion acquisition of the company and renamed it to WarnerMedia.[8] Under AT&T, a centralized approach was adopted, with the company’s subsidiaries being consolidated into five divisions and HBO Max being launched in 2020, as the company’s primary streaming service.[9][10] These moves were intended to synergize WarnerMedia’s content libraries with AT&T’s wireless distribution, to reposition the telecom giant as a diversified entertainment giant, but lackluster results led AT&T to reverse course.[11][12]
On May 17, 2021, AT&T announced its spin-off of WarnerMedia through a Reverse Morris Trust, and it subsequently merged with Discovery, Inc. to form Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) in April 2022.[13] After the merger closed, WarnerMedia became an inactive shell corporation. In 2018, the company was ranked number 130 on the Fortune 500 list.[14] Throughout its nearly 32-year run as a company, WarnerMedia owned a variety of large media companies (including AOL, Time Inc., TW Telecom, Time Warner Cable, AOL Time Warner Book Group, Six Flags, and Warner Music Group). These companies were either sold or spun off as independent companies.
Warner Communications and Time Warner’s founder, Steve Ross, died on December 20, 1992, at the age of 65, due to complications of prostate cancer, from which he suffered in his final years.[15] Time Warner’s co-founder, Richard Munro, later died on May 9, 2024, at the age of 93.
read Also:” AOL Acquisitions: How the Internet Pioneer Built a Media and Advertising Empire
| 30 Hudson Yards, WarnerMedia’s final headquarters | |
| Trade name | WarnerMedia[1] |
|---|---|
| Formerly | Warner Communications Inc. (1972–1990)Time Warner Inc. (1990–2001; 2003–2018)Time Warner Entertainment Company, L.P. (1992–2001)AOL Time Warner Inc. (2001–2003) |
| Type | Public (1972–2018)Subsidiary (2018–2022) |
| Traded as | NYSE: WCI (1972–1990)NYSE: TWX (1990–2001; 2003–2018)[2][3]NYSE: AOL (2001–2003)S&P 100 component (until 2018)S&P 500 component (until 2018) |
| Industry | Mass mediaEntertainment |
| Predecessors | Kinney National Company (1961–1972)Time Inc. (1922–2018)America OnlineTurner Broadcasting System |
| Founded | February 10, 1972; 54 years ago (as Warner Communications) January 10, 1990; 36 years ago (as Time Warner) June 30, 1992; 34 years ago (merged entertainment operations to form Time Warner Entertainment Company L.P.) January 11, 2001; 25 years ago (Merged to form AOL Time Warner) June 15, 2018; 8 years ago (as WarnerMedia) |
| Founder | Steve Ross (WCI)Richard Munro (Time) |
| Defunct | April 8, 2022; 4 years ago |
| Fate | Spun off from AT&T and merged with Discovery, Inc. |
| Successor | Warner Bros. Discovery |
| Headquarters | 30 Hudson Yards, New York City, United States[4] |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Revenue |  US$35.63 billion (2021) |
| Operating income |  US$1.9 billion (2021) |
| Number of employees | 30,000 (2021) |
| Parent | AT&T (2018–2022) |
| Divisions | WarnerMedia Studios & NetworksWarnerMedia News & SportsWarnerMedia Sales & DistributionWarnerMedia DirectWarnerMedia International |
| Website | warnermedia.comtimewarner.comaoltimewarner.com (archived websites) |
