CNN to Join New Warner Bros. Discovery Division After Corporate Restructure

CNN will have a new home within Warner Bros. Discovery in 2025. The news network’s parent company announced a corporate restructure that will create two new operating divisions next year.

Global Linear Networks will house the media giant’s numerous cable assets, including linear channels like CNN, TBS, and TruTV. Meanwhile, Streaming & Studios will encompass the Max streaming service, as well as HBO and the Warner Bros. movie studio, home to such franchises as the DC Universe and Harry Potter.

“We continue to prioritize ensuring our Global Linear Networks business is well positioned to continue to drive free cash flow, while our Streaming & Studios business focuses on driving growth by telling the world’s most compelling stories,” WBD president and CEO David Zaslav said in a statement.

“Our new corporate structure better aligns our organization and enhances our flexibility with potential future strategic opportunities across an evolving media landscape,” Zaslav added. TVNewser has reached out to CNN, which had no further comment.

WBD’s restructuring follows NBCUniversal’s bombshell announcement last month that it would be spinning off the majority of its cable networks—including MSNBC and CNBC—into a separate SpinCo entity. The new company will be led by led by NBCUniversal Media Group chairman Mark Lazarus and NBCUniversal CFO and Comcast EVP of corporate strategy Anand Kini and will house other soon-to-be ex-NBCU cable outlets, including Syfy and the USA Network.

Speculation is already under way about a possible “strategic opportunity” that could see SpinCo and Global Linear Networks forming some kind of partnership for their respective cable assets. Wall Street already seems bullish on that potential outcome; WBD stock saw an 11% surge after news of its restructure broke. With MSNBC being cleaved from the larger NBCUniversal News Group by the end of 2025, an alliance with CNN could bolster their respective newsgathering operations.

Certainly, CNN and MSNBC have both been experiencing ratings lows in the wake of the 2024 presidential election that returned President-elect Donald Trump to the White House. While post-election dips in news consumption are common, the industry at large is also contending with a pronounced audience shift away from linear outlets in favor of digital platforms.

Two years ago, CNN launched the CNN+ streaming service, which was shut down shortly after Warner Bros. and Discovery merged. CNN content has since streamed on Max and and source at WBD indicates that the restructure will not immediately impact those day-to-day operations.

CNN head Mark Thompson has been particularly focused on reinventing the network’s digital operations since he joined the network last year.

“We have over 100 million Americans coming to us every month on our digital assets, and that scale means we get many millions of younger users,” Thompson told ADWEEK earlier this year while discussing his plans for new franchise-based verticals. “Bringing them back with regular franchises means that, over time, our ability to guarantee those audiences to advertisers is going to get stronger.”