Discovery announced today that the company’s shareholders have met and voted on the upcoming merger with WarnerMedia. The company’s stockholders have officially voted to approve the merger, according to a press release Friday morning.
The merger will bring together WarnerMedia’s entertainment, sports and news assets with Discovery’s nonfiction and international entertainment and sports businesses, forming a new company called Warner Bros. Discovery.
A “definitive agreement” between AT&T and Discovery was first announced in May 2021. “This agreement unites two entertainment leaders with complementary content strengths and positions the new company to be one of the leading global direct-to-consumer streaming platforms,” Stankey said when that announcement was made. The $43-billion deal was supposed to close halfway through 2022, but was moved up to Q2, according to Stankey during an earnings call in January.
Last month, The Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice did not challenge the merger, according to an SEC filing from Discovery, allowing the companies to move forward with the deal.
At the Special Meeting of Discovery Stockholders Friday morning, “Discovery stockholders voted to approve the charter amendment proposals, share issuance proposal and the advisory (non-binding) compensation proposal.” Discovery says that this was “one of the few remaining closing conditions for the merger.”
The acquisition is still expected to close early in Q2, subject to other customary closing conditions.