Warner Bros. Discovery posted an $11.3 billion shareholder net loss for 2024, including a $9.1 billion goodwill impairment

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, from public records. Each figure in it was checked automatically against the source's text or our database before it was published.

In its annual report filed on Feb 27, 2025, Warner Bros. Discovery reported revenue of $39.32 billion for 2024, down 4.8% as reported from $41.32 billion in 2023, and a net loss attributable to its shareholders of $11.31 billion, against a loss of $3.13 billion the year before. The report is a 10-K, the annual filing a US-listed company makes with the SEC; it covered the year ended Dec 31, 2024 and was filed the day of the company's earnings release.1^,2^,3^,4^,5^,6^,7^,8^,9

The operating loss was $10.03 billion, against $1.55 billion a year earlier. The operating loss included a $9.1 billion non-cash goodwill impairment charge in the Networks segment, booked in the second quarter of 2024; goodwill is the amount paid in past acquisitions above the value of the assets bought, and an impairment writes part of it off. The notes to the accounts said the company concluded that the gap between market capitalization and book value, continued softness in the US linear advertising market, and uncertainty over affiliate and sports rights renewals, including the NBA, were a triggering event for the Networks reporting unit. The company said its net loss included $7.5 billion of pre-tax acquisition-related amortization of intangibles, content fair value step-up and restructuring expenses, as well as the goodwill charge. The loss per diluted share was $4.62, against $1.28 a year earlier.10^,11^,12^,13^,14^,15^,16^,17^,18

Content revenue, which included sales of console games and mobile in-game content, fell 8% at constant currency (ex-FX, which strips out exchange-rate effects), which the company attributed primarily to a 53% decrease in games revenue and a 4% decrease in theatrical product revenue. It tied the games decrease to the strong 2023 slate, including Hogwarts Legacy, which Avalanche Software developed and Warner Bros. Games published, against the 2024 slate. In the Studios segment, which included interactive gaming, games content expense rose 1% at constant currency because of impairments of $384 million. The notes listed a restructuring initiative at the Warner Bros. Games group among two begun in 2024. In its shareholder letter the company called 2024 a disappointing year for its Games business and said it had announced a restructuring plan to refocus resources and capital on proven IP and games from proven studios. It said it was focusing the Games business on four franchises that had each generated over $1 billion in consumer sales in past years, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Mortal Kombat and DC, and that it expected its refocused strategy to bring the Games division back to profit in 2025.19^,20^,21^,22^,23^,24^,25^,26^,27^,28^,29

The company took its name on Apr 8, 2022, when Discovery completed its merger with the WarnerMedia business of AT&T. In connection with that merger, the company said, it expected approximately $4.1 - $5.3 billion in pre-tax restructuring charges and had incurred $4.7 billion of them as of Dec 31, 2024.30^,31^,32^,33

Our records hold the report's management discussion and its notes and nothing else of it, and they hold revenue, operating income, the shareholders' net income and diluted earnings per share for the year. They cannot tell whether the year-earlier figures were restated.34^,35^,36