Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) – which is currently the subject of a bidding war between Paramount Skydance and Netflix – has reported that Q4 revenues were $9.5 billion (€8.05bn), a 7 per ent ex-FX decrease from the prior year quarter. Total FY 2025 revenues stood at $37.3 billion.

In a letter to shareholders, the company said: “2025 marked a significant year for Warner Bros Discovery as we made meaningful progress in delivering on our commitment to return our Studios to industry leadership, scale HBO Max globally, and optimise our Global Linear Networks.”

WBD did not shed any new light on its pending sale, and advised that it “will not be answering any questions on this topic during our earnings call”.

Distribution revenues decreased 3 per cent ex-FX in Q4, attributed to dynamic underlying growth in global streaming subscribers was more than offset by continued domestic linear pay TV subscriber declines and the impact of the HBO Max domestic distribution deal renewal with a “former related party”.

Advertising revenues decreased 9 per cent ex-FX in the quarter, as ad-lite streaming subscriber growth was more than offset by domestic linear audience declines. The absence of the NBA in the current year negatively impacted the year-over-year growth rate by 4 per cent ex-FX.

Content revenues decreased 10 per cent ex-FX, primarily driven by lower content sales due to the timing of renewals at the Studios and Global Linear Networks segments.

HBO Max ended the quarter with 131.6 million streaming subscribers, an increase of 3.5 million subscribers vs Q3 and surpassing the 130
million target that WBD established in August 2022. The SVoD service debuts in the UK and Ireland in March. WBD said it expects to finish the first quarter of 2026 with more than 140 million subscribers, and end the year with over 150 million.

“We continue to execute against our strategic pillars across Warner Bros. Discovery. The Studios segment is making meaningful progress toward returning to industry leadership and our $3 billion Adjusted EBITDA goal. The Streaming segment continues to scale globally and we expect to exceed 150 million global subscribers by the end of 2026 with meaningful subscriber-related revenue and Adjusted EBITDA growth,” the letter to shareholders continued.

“And at Global Linear Networks, we are building on our assets that underpin long-term value creation: our resilient international footprint, our premiere global sports portfolio, a modernised CNN, and leveraging emerging technologies and platforms to enhance our reach and monetisation. With these strong assets and our disciplined investment strategy, we remain focused on sustaining healthy Adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow for years to come. In parallel, we are focused on maximising value for shareholders. As we move forward into our next phase for Warner Bros Discovery, we remain confident that the business is well positioned to deliver sustainable performance and long-term success in an evolving media landscape,” the letter concluded.

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Tags: HBO Max, netflix, WBD