CEO David Zaslav Just Bought Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Stock. Here’s Why.

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Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) are in the spotlight following the company’s earnings report and two insider purchases of WBD stock. As a reminder, AT&T (NYSE:T) spun off Warner Media to merge with Discovery to form the newly created entity.

The logo of the new Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) company on smartphone screen.
Source: Jimmy Tudeschi / Shutterstock.com

In the company’s earnings call, CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels stated, “Q1 operating profit and cash flow for WarnerMedia were clearly below my expectations.”

The lower-than-expected operating profit may partly be attributable to the closing of CNN+. Warner Bros. Discovery had invested tens of millions of dollars into the operation, only to shut it down a few weeks after the initial launch. The company had initially planned on spending over $1 billion to invest in CNN+ over the next four years.

WBD stock is currently down more than 25% in the past month.

CEO and CFO Purchase Shares of WBD Stock

Despite the shaky earnings report, CEO David Zaslav and CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels both reported purchasing shares yesterday.

Yesterday, Zaslav reported purchasing 50,200 shares of his company at average prices ranging between $19.49 and $19.93. The transaction amounted to just over $1 million. After the purchase, Zaslav now owns a total of 4.09 million shares.

Additionally, Wiedenfels reported buying shares of his company on the same day as Zaslav. The CFO purchased 25,000 shares at an average price of $19.95. In total, the transaction amounted to about half a million dollars. After the purchase, Wiedenfels owns a total of 481,527 shares.

It’s interesting that the two executives decided to purchase shares after disclosing earnings. While the near-term outlook for Warner may be rocky, the purchases reflect that the executives remain bullish for the long term.

During the company’s earnings call, Zaslav stated, “We have the ability to ring any number of cash registers.” These “cash registers,” or sources of income, include cable and satellite channels, gaming and theatrical releases.

Executives of the company also warned that the integration of the new company will take some time. In the coming months, Warner plans on sharing a “detailed financial outlook.”

How Do Other Insiders Feel About Warner Bros Discovery?

So, how do other insiders feel about their company? In the past year, insiders have purchased 224 million shares, while selling 191 million shares. In total, insiders have accounted for a net activity of 32 million shares bought.

Meanwhile, insiders have made 24 open market purchases and 16 sales in the past year.

On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2022/04/ceo-david-zaslav-just-bought-warner-bros-discovery-wbd-stock-heres-why/.

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