Analysis of the Warner Bros. Impairment
Calcbench always loves to dig into a big goodwill impairment, so when Warner Bros. Discovery ($WBD) last week coughed up one of the biggest impairments we’ve seen in years, our crack research team fired up the Footnotes and Disclosures tool and got to work. We can start with the impairment itself, announced as part of Warner Bros.’ second-quarter earnings release filed on Aug. 7. The company declared an impairment of $9.1 billion for its Networks division, which includes operations such as cable TV and other broadcast television operations, both in the United States and abroad. OK, it’s not news that traditional television has been taking it in the teeth lately, as consumers cut the cable in favor of streaming services. But what exactly caused Warner Bros. to declare a goodwill impairment now, barely two years after the company came into being with the merger of Discovery Inc. and the Warner Media business of AT&T ($T) back in April 2022? This is a question worth consider...