Warner Bros. Discovery sinks after taking massive $9.1 billion impairment charge on its cable business

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Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) reported second quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday that missed expectations on both the top and bottom lines while the company took a massive $9.1 billion impairment charge related to its TV networks unit. Including an additional $2.1 billion in costs related to its merger, the company took an $11.2 billion hit in write-down and charges last quarter. "It's fair to say that even two years ago, market valuations and prevailing conditions for legacy media companies were quite different than they are today," Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said on the earnings call. "This impairment acknowledges this and better aligns our carrying values with our future outlook." WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels added that the second quarter saw a "number of triggering events, including the difference between our current market cap and the book value of the company, the continued softness in the US ad market and uncertainty related to affiliate and sports rights renewals, including the NBA, required us to adjust our planning assumptions." "While I am certainly not dismissive of the magnitude of this impairment, I believe it's equally important to recognize that the flip side of this reflects the value shift across business models and our conviction and confidence in the growth and value opportunity across studios and our global direct to consumer business," he said. The stock fell about 9% in after-hours trading as investors digested the results. In addition to the impairment charge, the company also reversed earlier profit trends in its streaming business despite adding nearly 4 million subscribers in the quarter, while its linear TV unit continued to deteriorate. This marked the first earnings report for the company since Warner Bros. lost a key media rights deal with the NBA. The company filed a lawsuit against the league over what it said was the NBA's "unjustified rejection" of the company's matching rights proposal. Revenue came in at $9.7 billion for the quarter, missing Bloomberg consensus expectations of $10.12 billion and a 6% drop compared to the $10.36 billion seen last year. The company reported an adjusted loss per share of $4.07 versus a loss $0.51 in the year-earlier period and below consensus estimates of $0.21 as a result of the impairment charge. Free cash flow, which served as a bright spot in the first quarter, bucked that trend this time around. The metric dropped 43% year over year to $976 million and also missed Bloomberg consensus expectations of $1.2 billion. Story continues The company's direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming business served as a bright spot in the quarter. It added 3.6 million Max subscribers amid the debut of "House of the Dragon" Season 2. This was ahead of Bloomberg consensus expectations of 1.89 million and also ahead of the 1.80 million subs added in Q2 2023. Streaming advertising revenue jumped to $240 million, beating Bloomberg estimates of $191 million and up 98% from the $121 million the company reported in the year-ago period. The DTC division, however, posted a loss of $107 million after reporting a profit in the first quarter. Future unclear amid linear struggles In its latest media rights negotiations, the NBA passed on WBD in favor of two newcomers: tech giant Amazon (AMZN) and Comcast's NBCUniversal (CMCSA). The league was able to strike a new rights agreement with its other current media partner, Disney (DIS). WBD's current rights will expire at the end of next season. Analysts have warned the loss of these rights will impact the future success of its streaming service Max and will likely quicken the demise of its linear networks, which are already in free fall. Network advertising revenue tumbled by 10% in Q2 from the year-earlier period. The company reported network ad revenue of $2.21 billion, missing Bloomberg expectations of $2.26 billion. That pressured second quarter EBITDA, with full-year adjusted EBITDA now at risk of falling below $10 billion, according to the latest Bloomberg estimates. That's $4 billion below what analysts had expected at the time of the merger. Rumors have swirled about the company's next move, with Bank of America analysts laying out possible strategic options in a recent report that could include a split of the company's digital streaming and studio businesses from its legacy linear TV unit. Warner Bros. Discovery has struggled in recent quarters, with profits hit by a weak linear advertising environment and pressure on affiliate fees REUTERS/Eric Gaillard/File Photo (NurPhoto via Getty Images) Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com. Click here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance