The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has come out swinging against the possibility of a Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) merger, calling any such deal “a disaster for writers.”
The statement, issued jointly by the WGA East and West on Thursday, comes just two days after WBD confirmed it was considering selling itself, or at least parts of the company, after receiving “unsolicited interest” from several potential buyers. According to its official statement, WBD has launched “a review of strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value.”
That review could include splitting the company in two — separating Warner Bros. and Discovery — or merging Warner Bros. with another studio or streamer. Any such deal, the Guild warns, would further shrink the number of buyers in an already-tight content marketplace.
“Merger after merger in the media industry has harmed workers, diminished competition and free speech, and wasted hundreds of billions of dollars better invested in organic growth,” said the WGA East and West. “Combining Warner Bros. with Paramount or another major studio or streamer would be a disaster for writers, for consumers, and for competition. The WGAW and WGAE will work with regulators to block the merger.”
This isn’t the first time the writers’ union has taken a hard line against consolidation. The Guild opposed the proposed DISH-DirecTV merger back in 2002, the Comcast-NBCUniversal merger in 2011, and Disney’s acquisition of Fox in 2017 — all of which, it argued, reduced opportunities for creative talent and inflated corporate control over entertainment.
The Guild’s fears are hardly unfounded. A merger between Warner Bros. and another content giant, such as Paramount or Netflix, could eliminate yet another independent studio buyer in Hollywood, further concentrating decision-making power among a handful of massive entities. The union’s 2021 report on media consolidation warned that these mergers consistently fail to deliver promised benefits, instead resulting in “foreseeable anticompetitive outcomes that hurt consumers and workers.”
Warner Bros. Discovery, led by CEO David Zaslav, has struggled under heavy debt since its 2022 merger. With recent reports of layoffs and restructuring, a potential sale or breakup would mark yet another turning point in the company’s turbulent evolution — and the latest flashpoint in the industry’s ongoing battle between creative labor and corporate consolidation.
For now, WBD has said only that it’s “reviewing options.” The Writers Guild has made its position crystal clear: if regulators approve another media mega-merger, they’ll fight with their hands.
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