CEO of Warner Bros. admits that Joker 2’s performance was ‘disappointing’ amid questions about company division

Executives of Warner Bros. Discovery answered questions from Wall Street analysts about the feasibility of keeping the conglomerate together, amid debt and challenges at studios and TV networks. During a conversation with investors, the CEO David Zaslav admitted that the performance of Joker: Delirium for Two was lower than expected, which affects the company’s next results.

Inconsistency is a problem at our studio, as shown by the results of Joker 2,”said Zaslav.

During a call, executives acknowledged that the performance of the film’s recent release Joker 2 disappointed and could weigh on performance in the next quarter. Warner Bros. Discovery also took a more than $100 million charge tied to its gaming division, with executives noting that they would begin to focus more heavily on core franchises and reduce the number of new releases.

In the last quarter, the Warner Bros. Discovery it made a profit of US$135 million, improving on the previous year’s loss of US$417 million.

Analyst Ben Swinburne, from Morgan Stanley, stated that the company is seen as a company with falling profits and questioned Zaslav about the advantages of maintaining the current portfolio.

We see the benefits of operating seamlessly every day,” replied CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels.

Zaslav highlighted that the media industry faces a “generational shift” and that many subscription services burden consumers. “This situation is not sustainable,” he said, defending mergers and consolidations. He hopes that the Trump administration in 2025 will facilitate this scenario.