Tax Write-Offs For Content Are Over At Warner Bros Discovery As CFO Once Again Scolds Entertainment Biz For “Spending Frenzy”
deadline.comThe days of Warner Bros. Discovery cutting content for tax purposes are over, according to CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels. Following a series of brutal axings in 2022, including shutting down big-budget tentpole Batgirl, killing J.J.
Abrams’ HBO drama Demimonde, culling TBS series such as The Big D, Chad and Kill The Orange Bear as well as a raft of cancelations including Westworld, Wiedenfels said, “We’re done with that chapter”.
Speaking at a Citibank media conference, the exec also took the opportunity to once again chastise the entire industry for its spendthrift ways.
Asked by moderator and veteran Citi analyst Jason Bazinet about where the company lies on the spectrum of direct-to-consumer and wholesale content production for others to distribute, Wiedenfels replied, “The truth is in the middle.” He invoked CEO David Zaslav’s declaration, during the humbling of Netflix in early 2022 as Wall Street recalibrated its standards for the streaming business, that WBD was “not out to win the spending wars” in the sector.
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