Warner Bros. Discovery: Longer Strike Will Cut Earnings by Another $300-$500 Million

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Company guides to $10.5 billion to $11 billion in 2023 EBITDA

Striking writers and actors outside the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank.
Remove image Use listing image as hero Striking writers and actors outside the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank. (Image credit: Gilbert Flores/Getty Images)

With the writers and actors strikes stretching longer than expected, Warner Bros. Discovery said earnings for the year will be reduced by $300 million to $500 million.

In a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, WBD said projections it made during its second-quarter earnings call assumed the strike would end by early September.

At this point, the company said, it now expects earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization to be between $10.5 billion and $11 billion, down $300 million to $500 million from earlier guidance.

At the same time, WBD said it was raising its free cash flow expectations to at least $5 billion, with an anticipated $1.7 billion in free cash flow generated in the third quarter. The strong third-quarter performance is partly due to having a hit film in Barbie.

WBD said it still expects to reduce its debt to 4 times earnings by the end of the year, and getting it down to 2.5 to 3 times earnings by the end of 2024.

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.