Warner Bros cooked HBO Max subscriber numbers to mislead shareholders, says new lawsuit

Warner Bros Discovery, the new entity that emerged after Warner Bros and Discovery, Inc merged together, has landed in fresh trouble. As per The Wrap, a lawsuit has alleged that Warner Bros, the home of franchises like DC and 'Harry Potter', cooked the subscriber base of streaming service HBO Max by as much as 10 million in order to mislead shareholders and get a higher rate for the merger. The act violates the Securities Act, the lawsuit added. As per the publication, the lawsuit was filed last Friday in New York by Collinsville Police Pension Board, a shareholder of WBD.

Also Read: Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav reveals 10-year plan for DC films to counter Marvel

Warner Bros has been in financial trouble for years, and the merger has not done it any favours, it appears. David Zaslav, the boss of WBD, has been ruthless with cancellations of nearly-completed movies like 'Batgirl' and other in-development projects to take tax write-offs. There was an intense outcry over the decisions. Experts have however said that these decision reduce the trust between the studio and creatives. Earlier, Christopher Nolan, for whom Warner Bros had been a home for nearly more than 17 years, chose to quit after the studio announced in 2021 that it will release every big screen project on both HBO Max and in theatres. Apart from Nolan, many other filmmakers took exception to the decision.

Nolan had also had a rift with WB over the release of his feature 'Tenet'. The film released at a time (late 2020) when most of the cinema halls in the world were closed due to Covid-19 pandemic. While Nolan wanted the film to be released, WB wanted to wait till the theatres reopened. The film was released but was only a moderate success.

Some analysts have said that Warner Bros will merge with NBCUniversal, Comcast's mass media and entertainment subsidiary, but not until 2024 due to the complicated nature of such merger. Disney's Fox acquisition, which was completed in 2019, has proved that in the current entertainment climate, being as big as possible and owing as many IPs as possible, matters. Disney now owns whole of Marvel except Spider-Man (which Sony has the rights to), 'Star Wars', Pixar, 'The Simpsons', 'Pirates of the Caribbean', 'Avatar' and more. 

Fans of DC and 'Harry Potter' are worried over the uncertain future of the properties, both of which have been floundering without any clear direction for quite a while. While there have been successes, but nothing like what these franchises enjoyed in 2010s.