HBO Max-Discovery+ merger brought forward

In brief

Warner Bros. Discovery will move forward the date of the forthcoming merger between its two major streaming platforms—HBO Max and Discovery+—from summer 2023 to spring 2023.

The combined services now have 94.9 million subscribers, an increase of 2.8 million from last quarter.

The company reported total third-quarter revenues of $9.82bn and adjusted Ebitda (the company’s measure of profit) of $2.42bn; both are 8% year-over-year declines.

It also announced it ended the quarter with $2.5bn in cash onhand, $50.4bn in debt, and 5.1x net leverage (a leverage ratio above 3x is generally considered difficult to pay off, according to financial analysts).