From Time Inc to Discovery: Warner Bros breakup puts spotlight on checkered M&A history
Warner Bros Discovery, home to HBO and CNN, said on Monday it would split into two companies, the latest twist in its decades-long history of high-stakes mergers and breakups.
Date Event
1922 Time Inc was founded by Henry Luce and Briton
publication that made world affairs
accessible to the average reader. The first
issue of Time magazine was published in March
1923.
1923 Warner Bros was founded by brothers Harry,
Albert, Sam and Jack Warner as a film studio
in Hollywood. It revolutionized cinema with
the introduction of synchronized sound in
films.
1969 Kinney National Company, a conglomerate that
later transitioned into media, buys Warner
Bros-Seven Arts and later spins off its
non-media businesses.
1972 HBO is founded by Charles Dolan with backing
from Time. It was the first U.S.
subscription-based cable network, offering
uncut, commercial-free movies and live
sports, pioneering premium cable television.
1990 Time Inc merges with Warner Communications in
a $14 billion deal, hailed as a "marriage of
content and distribution," creating Time
Warner, then the largest media company in the
world.
1996 Time Warner merges with Turner Broadcasting,
gaining Cartoon Network, CNN, TNT and a vast
classic film library.
2000 Time Warner merges with AOL, forming AOL Time
Warner, the largest merger in history at the
time, aiming to merge traditional and digital
media.
2002 AOL Time Warner merger begins to unravel as
AOL's value collapses with the launch of an
SEC investigation, prompted by allegations of
accounting irregularities and inflated
revenue reports at AOL.
2003 CEO Steve Case resigns from AOL Time Warner.
2004 Time Warner sells Warner Music to a private
equity group led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. for
$2.6 billion.
2009 Time Warner fully spins off Time Warner
Cable, which had already been partially
separated in 2007, ending its role in cable
distribution.
2009 Time Warner spins off AOL.
2013 Time Warner spins off Time, its magazine
division, which includes Time, People,
Fortune and Sports Illustrated, marking its
formal exit from publishing.
2016 AT&T announces acquisition of Time Warner for
$85 billion.
2018 AT&T completes its acquisition of Time Warner
after regulator's approval, renaming it
WarnerMedia.
2021 AT&T announced it would spin off WarnerMedia
and merge it with Discovery Inc to create a
new standalone media company.
2022 WarnerMedia and Discovery complete their
merger in a $43 billion deal.
2025 Warner Bros Discovery announces it would
separate into two companies — one focusing on
streaming and studios businesses, while the
second will house its cable TV assets.
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