Warner Bros. announced Discovery reported its fourth-quarter 2025 results Thursday morning, reporting total revenue of $9.46 billion and 131.6 million global streaming subscribers. WBD lost $252 million in the fourth quarter; Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) was $2.216 billion.
Total revenue was down 6 percent from last year’s fourth quarter, although the number should please Wall Street from an outlook standpoint. But no one likes an unprofitable company.
Streaming subscriptions rose by 3.5 million from October through December. Ad revenue fell 9 percent, with the NBA’s loss on Turner costing WBD about half that. The company’s studio revenue declined 13 percent compared to the same quarter in 2024, mostly due to lower content sales. Global Linear Networks revenues declined 12 percent.
In the previous quarter, WBD reported a net loss of $148 million on revenue of $9 billion.
Of course, everything was different back then. Netflix buying WBD wasn’t a (public) thing, and there were only initial reports of Paramount’s interest. In the summer, Paramount was still in the process of converting to Paramount Skydance.
In December, Warner Bros. accepted the film. An offer to acquire Netflix for $83 billion. The deal was to wait for WBD to spin off, Discovery to spin off, and Netflix to acquire the WB studios and streaming companies (and HBO).
Paramount Skydance won’t let David Ellison leave the Warner Bros. film. Discovery by David Zaslav. After several rounds of sweeteners, it appears that Paramount may now be in the driver’s seat and Netflix is playing defense, though the deal remains in place. Paramount wants it all, Warner Bros. and Discover, they are willing to pay a premium.
The NBCUniversal and Versant-style spin-off, which would also send Turner’s assets to standalone Discovery Global, remains on track as boards and shareholders sort out the mess. Zaslav will direct Warner Bros. (At least until it is acquired) and Discovery will be acquired by its current CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels – if Netflix is indeed the final boss and there is a standalone Discovery.
In a letter to shareholders accompanying its fourth-quarter and full-year financial statements, WBD vaguely reiterated the latest on the suitors and one-deal situation. It was a pre-emptive strike to ward off the prying questions of media analysts.
“We will not answer any questions about this topic during the earnings call,” the message read.
The earnings call begins at 8:00 AM ET/5:00 AM PT.
Paramount reported its fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday. Find those here. Netflix, starting in January, is here.
