Another round of layoffs at DC

[Username taken]

Too many comics people don't understand business. At all. If DC is selling comics and is profitable doing so, then there's ZERO reason to shut it down.

Every company literally needs every dollar and cent it can get, so if any part of it is making money then they will leave it intact. The only way DC gets shuttered off or something is if the company isn't making money and my understanding is that both Marvel and DC have tailored their operations to break even at least, so I don't anticipate DC going anywhere. Except there's other stuff we don't know...

[Frontier]

I just hope people get to keep their jobs at the end of the day...

[superduperman]

The same people who put the Duggars on the air now own Superman and Batman. Let that sink in.

[Pinsir]

Too many comics people don't understand business. At all. If DC is selling comics and is profitable doing so, then there's ZERO reason to shut it down.

Every company literally needs every dollar and cent it can get, so if any part of it is making money then they will leave it intact. The only way DC gets shuttered off or something is if the company isn't making money and my understanding is that both Marvel and DC have tailored their operations to break even at least, so I don't anticipate DC going anywhere. Except there's other stuff we don't know...

A lot of people here legit hope DC/WB will fail so Disney will buy them.

[transformers03]

IGN's Julia Alexander posted this on Twitter :

Re: some of the questions I got about WarnerMedia & Discovery.

1) The sale includes some of Warner Bros. Interactive/Warner Bros. Games, but not all.

2) The sale does include DC Comics. So yes Discovery now owns DC Comics.

3) Rooster Teeth is part of the sale, yes.

Julia corrected this in a later tweet.

Correcting part of this tweet:

1) The sale includes some of Warner Bros. Interactive/Warner Bros. Games, but not all.

2) The sale does include DC Comics. Discovery, through the new venture, now effectively co-owns DC Comics with WB.

3) Rooster Teeth is part of the sale, yes.

Julia would later elaborate on what this all could mean through their research, but ultimately it seems like Warner Bros. and Discovery will co-own the DC IP and properties related as thus. While there will be a new CEO and new management at the head of this newly merged company, DC itself will continue to be run by mostly Warner Media.

[JorgeJ77]

Julia corrected this in a later tweet.



Julia would later elaborate on what this all could mean through their research, but ultimately it seems like Warner Bros. and Discovery will co-own the DC IP and properties related as thus. While there will be a new CEO and new management at the head of this newly merged company, DC itself will continue to be run by mostly Warner Media.

So, DC's not shutting down?

[Goldrake]

So, DC's not shutting down?

of course not, DC is an IP farm, it would be foolish to shut it down.

[skyvolt2000]

So just curious: Does Discovery still do REAL science of have they devolved into "My redneck cousin's huge family" type shows?

Well they also have stock in the Oprah Winfrey Network. Which means you now have a black network to play with that includes Ava DuVernay, Michael B Jordan and Oprah herself.

Now this would give DC an advantage over Marvel-a black network that you can really target African Americans.

[Noodle]

A lot of people here legit hope DC/WB will fail so Disney will buy them.

Ironically the same people that constantly cry about Disney ruining Marvel and Star Wars, yet for some reason still want them to buy DC.

[Holt]

The only people I've ever seen say they want Disney to buy DC are, ironically, people angry about Warner not making JL2 and 3, and that was only very recently.

[Nite-Wing]

Context is king about this move
ATT bought Warner Bros because they claimed they wanted to get into streaming and it was the next big thing on the horizon for all media companies

For what its worth they hugely overpaid for now Warner Media

When they acquired warner media they took on a lot of debt
Their stock price and valuation as an entity literally stayed the same and that hurt especially when you are competing with Netflix and Disney who are both seeing huge gains in stock and valuation
This was the main reason for all the cuts and restructuring after the deal

ATT decides its best to just spin off the asset that isn't doing anything for them but keeping them in debt

So now they get rid of Warner Media for way less than what they bought it for

They'll probably do this a couple more times with all the other things they've bought to get rid of debt

Someone ATT's CEO still has his job
Oh and DC/Marvel fanboys are basically saying the fault lies with the Warner Bros movie division when ultimately this was literally all about ATT as a company

Either way WB/DC won't see much change as their structure is remaining intact apparently and just going under the Discovery+ banner

Apparently ATT shopped this too other entities like Disney,Paramount, etc but of course with recent acquisitions from both another debt dump would be impossible so in comes Discovery who was the only corp left.

I still think its possible Amazon might come in and buy Discovery/Warner in the next few years

[transformers03]

Julia corrected this in a later tweet.



Julia would later elaborate on what this all could mean through their research, but ultimately it seems like Warner Bros. and Discovery will co-own the DC IP and properties related as thus. While there will be a new CEO and new management at the head of this newly merged company, DC itself will continue to be run by mostly Warner Media.

Something I forgot to add is that it appears that the current CEO of Discovery will be the CEO of this newly merged corporation, and one of the main chiefs of Warner Bros. seemed to be on his way out. This is hard to grasp what this ultimately leads in terms of comic books, especially since it looks like the goal of this merger is more concerned with the streaming services. The different IP and brands under Discovery and Warner can now be under the same roof, and that way they can all be made available on one streaming service, which would make it more enticing for people to buy.

Comics don't really have a role in that, other than being a relatively cheap and effective way to hold onto rights and create new IP. Since Warner will continue to have co-ownership and be the primary company in charge of developing DC-based properties, I can't imagine DC comics changing too much. Warner will also no longer be under the thumbs of a conglomerate that really did not understand how to run entertainment media, which could lead to better management for DC again. On the other hand, there's a lot of unknown variables. It's unknown how the CEO would view comic books, even though he does appear to be enthusiastic to have IP like Batman and Superman under his leadership. It's unknown how much influence AT&T still has on this newly merged company since they will own a majority stake for the company.

In the end, I don't agree with any of the doomsaying. Despite how relatively little they make, comics still turn out too much of a profit to just get rid of. It's like what Jamal Yaseem Igle has said on Twitter - this isn't the first time DC Comics has been bought up before, and they've gotten past far worse ownership. On that note, who really knows at this point. The CEO of Discovery could see even less value for the comic books than AT&T ever did, who knows? It's also unknown if DC can survive another round of layoffs after the bloodbath they went through last year. Given how little attention comics rarely ever get when it comes to these kinds of decisions, it's honestly very frustrating that these companies don't give consumers at least an idea of what they want to do with the comics media.

[Badou]

The comics division is such a small part of the merger that I don't think anything will really change other than maybe they will again trim down the comic lineup to focus on things that sell (Batman related stuff) over things that don't. Maybe some will lose their jobs in that trimming, but like it has been for a very long time now the comics are secondary to the IPs that are in them. It mostly feels like this is happening because AT&T is in such massive debt they need some deal like this to help them stay afloat, and this merger is the best they could do without outright selling their properties.

[king of hybrids]

The only people I've ever seen say they want Disney to buy DC are, ironically, people angry about Warner not making JL2 and 3, and that was only very recently.

Which is odd considering that school of thought flirts with the idea that Johns sabotaged the DCEU to get an in with Marvel/Disney

[Veni]