Rumblings of DC Properties Being Sold Off By AT&T

[Yowza]

Apparently AT&T may look into selling off all DC comics related assets to compensate for some of the cost of the Warnermedia buyout.

The following article isn't the original source but I think sums up the situation best: Fate Of DC Coming Soon; Could Be Sold Off By AT&T (Red words in Quoted Article Below link to Sources)

FATE OF DC COMING SOON; COULD BE SOLD OFF BY AT&T
It's being speculated that AT&T, the parent company of WarnerMedia which includes DC Entertainment, may sell off the brand in a part of a move to save billions of dollars.

Former DC Comics artist Ethan Van Sciver was tipped off by someone at DC in regards to an article published by Barrons titled "AT&T Was Headed in the Right Direction Before Activist Elliott Management Showed Up," which is in regards to Hedge fund Elliott Management having disclosed a whopping $3.2 billion stake in AT&T.

The problem is the Hedge fund group is not happy at all with AT&T, as its stock has underperformed compared to T-Mobile, Verizon and the S&P Index average.

Van Sciver points out two relevant things that potentially have to do with DC, in that the article reports due to the involvement of the Hedge fund, that moves may be made to increase profits by removing positions as well as outsourcing:

"Elliott’s letter also calls on AT&T to streamline its “bureaucratic organization,” remove redundant positions, and consider outsourcing noncore functions. Along with office centralization and other cost cutting, Elliott sees $10 billion in potential annual savings that could expand AT&T’s profit margins. Wells Fargo’s Fritzsche noted that AT&T has quietly reduced its employee count by 5.6%—or over 15,000 people—in the past year."

Ethan Van Sciver goes on to speculate that AT&T could divest itself of DC - meaning getting rid of DC - as AT&T may no longer want or require the brand as part of its business interest or investment.

The article also mentions that a big meeting is being held on October 29 in regards to the future of Warner Media (includes DC) and the new HBO Max streaming service:
"AT&T has an analyst day scheduled for Oct. 29 focused on WarnerMedia and its upcoming HBO Max streaming service. That meeting just got more interesting, wrote Fritzsche."

DC Could Be In Big Trouble:

Worth a mention is that Forbes recently pointed out that "it's telling" that new WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey, who is from AT&T, never bothered to mention DC in a recent article that promoted WarnerMedia (one of the only WarnerMedia brands that were not mentioned), leading to speculation of DC closing or being sold. The article also points to the fact DC has been downsizing its exhibits at comic book conventions.

Comic book artist and creator of Deadpool Rob Liefeld has also taken to social media to offer that the company should get rebooted from the top-down, with his recent posts offering DC should be vaporized.

Since the beginning of the year I have also been reporting how DC Comics has been cutting its line, as June saw the lowest number of comics ever published by DC Comics. This past July also saw DC Comics get hammered by Marvel once again in terms of both units sold and retail market share.

There is also the fact that the Zack Snyder DCEU films haven't performed up to expectations, which has seen the DCEU get new management and go in a cost-cutting direction that sees lower budget movies produced in order to get the most bang for the buck.

I'll also say why this particular article caught my eye is because insiders told me the reason the DC Universe Swamp Thing series was cut was because of AT&T, as AT&T execs started to look at DC and found no one was watching over the financials, as the costs for Swamp Thing were sky high, so AT&T canceled the series.

What remains to be seen is if AT&T will simply close DC Comics and keep the movies and TV properties (I've been told WB wants to connect everything regarding movies, TV and streaming networks) or whether they will license off DC Comics or sell all of DC Entertainment, including the comics, movies and TV properties, or simply continue the way things have been going but make changes on an executive-level or more.

Oct. 29 did just get more interesting, indeed.

Overall, how many people would be happy with this sale if there is one?

 

[TMP98]

CosmicBook is a terrible, terrible source and Ethan Van Sciver is even worse. This is like when people kept saying Kathleen Kennedy was going to be fired, and yet...

 

[TheScarecrow]

Only one DCEU film hasn’t made a big profit (Justice League).

Also, DC comics outsell Marvel comics.

So this article makes no sense.

WB/DC made huge amounts off of BvS, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman and Aquaman - the latter being the second most successful WB film of all time.

I call BS on everything in this article.

 

[Yowza]

Yeah, but Cosmicbook is not the source behind this. A writeup summing up information with linked sources at the very least.

The Barron's article makes it seem probable that this hedge fund could put some pressure on AT&T. Ethan Van Sciver I'm not familiar with but as a former artist who worked for DC I don't think it's far fetched for him to talk to some of the workers at DC publishing concerning how things are going business wise. Still regardless of that, there have also been cost cutting measures taken by AT&T since the buyout finalized (Swamp Thing cancelled for instance or talk of utilizing the CW as a model for televised programming everywhere).

The other news sources pointing out constant restructuring at WB as well as the woes at DC publishing and no mention of DC related IP's being utilized in Warnermedia (the AT&T executive being CEO for this) do make it seem this could be a wise move on AT&T's part to regain some lost expenditures through a sellout of this valuable IP that is DC Comics and properties associated with it.

 

[Micromind]

They (DC) have been talking about scaling down comics output even before Time Warner was bought by AT&T and focusing more on Graphic novels but selling DC ? I don't think so.

The very reason why AT&T bought Time Warner was due to the vast amount of content and ownership of various properties including DC comics.

The reason why such rumors floating now is because WB closed down the MAD magazine but that was in consideration for many years. Recently launched DC Universe app features a good library of past DC comics issues, I doubt why would they even think of selling one of their most valuable brands.I am so sick of all the unnecessary negativity some sites like to propagate when it comes to DC comics.

 

[Micromind]

Cost cutting can be done by closing down many of the network channels WB own but are not really profitable to them.. as well as selling off their 10% ownership in Hulu (which is 90% owned by Disney) as well as selling off their 25% stake in Fandango (which is 75% owned by Comcast)

 

[Micromind]

Lastly, Ethan Van Sciver is not someone as I would trust, that guy says all types of things.

Still regardless of that, there have also been cost cutting measures taken by AT&T since the buyout finalized (Swamp Thing cancelled for instance or talk of utilizing the CW as a model for televised programming everywhere).

That was due to the episodes going over budget for that show, remember the show was created for US only audience that was on DC Universe app, it was not reaching wide audience, so naturally there are limits to how much money they can spend on each episode. This happens everywhere, for example, Constantine series was cancelled by NBC in 2015, when it was just going to air their last episode, but NBC did not allow that and pulled the plug. Recently, Netflix cancelled many of Marvel shows (Inhumans, Iron Fist, Luke Cage..)

The other news sources pointing out constant restructuring at WB as well as the woes at DC publishing and no mention of DC related IP's being utilized in Warnermedia (the AT&T executive being CEO for this) do make it seem this could be a wise move on AT&T's part to regain some lost expenditures through a sellout of this valuable IP that is DC Comics and properties associated with it.

Losing valuable IP is never a wise move, it's a foolish move.

 

[mclay18]

I call BS on this. There is no way AT&T will outright sell DC Comics as their film output is improving.

I could see them licensing some smaller properties to outside studios, but they're not going to sell movie rights to, say, Superman or Green Lantern, to an outside studio like Paramount or Disney.

I could envision AT&T mandating cofinancers for most of WB's films going forward or even flirting with inter-company crossovers. It wouldn't surprise me since they have J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot (which has a history at Paramount) to do a live action adaptation of the Star Trek/Green Lantern comics.

 

[brandeezy89]

Why would they sell their biggest IP?

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

Haven't there been rumblings along these lines in the past?

 

[Primal Slayer]

DC properties bring in massive amount of money. I dont know if anyone would be interested in getting the rights to DC Comics but not media rights as well, those alone bring in over 100million annually.

 

[Zarex]

It seems like it would be a foolish decision for AT&T to sell off a cash cow like DC. But if the company did entertain offers, I could see Kabletown putting in a massive bid. Comcast is opening up new parks in Beijing and Orlando and is heavily dependent on outside IP like the Potterverse. Flooding the Universal Parks with Superheroes (after a buyout of the Six Flags contract) and strengthening owned IP for film, TV and licensing could bring in tens of billions to AT&T if they decided to sell.

 

[Flint Marko]

Cosmic book news should be erased from the internet

 

[Micromind]

DC properties bring in massive amount of money. I dont know if anyone would be interested in getting the rights to DC Comics but not media rights as well, those alone bring in over 100million annually.

Worldwide annual merchandise sales of DC products alone earn billion for them, to say nothing about money they get from sale of video games.

 

[TheFuture]

Cosmic book news should be erased from the internet

Why stop there....plenty of clickbait sites need to be culled.

 

[FunkMiller]

Much as I would love to see DC in more capable hands than WB (Amazon, possibly) this is some click bait bull**** on an epic, epic scale.

 

[Flint Marko]

Why stop there....plenty of clickbait sites need to be culled.

For sure, but that's the biggest culprit I see regularly cited on this message board.

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

Let me find out in the next couple years we'll be seeing Marvel Studios Presents Crisis On Infinite Earths.

 

[Stikmann]

Only one DCEU film hasn’t made a big profit (Justice League).

Also, DC comics outsell Marvel comics.

So this article makes no sense.

WB/DC made huge amounts off of BvS, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman and Aquaman - the latter being the second most successful WB film of all time.

I call BS on everything in this article.

I think you might be looking at old data. Marvel has been outselling DC in both Dollar Share and Unit Share for quite some time now. And while Marvel has been trending upward, DC is trending down. If it doesn't have Batman in it, it's hardly selling.

 

[Boy Scout]

This could never happen, but imagine if Disney had both Marvel and DC.

 

[metaphysician]

Put simply, I don't believe this for a nanosecond. The DC properties are worth far, far too much. They'd be worth far too much even if WB stopped actually making *anything* with them, just from merchandise licensing.

 

[mclay18]

Much as I would love to see DC in more capable hands than WB (Amazon, possibly) this is some click bait bull**** on an epic, epic scale.

Why would you have Amazon Studios be in charge of a DC film or series? They haven’t successfully launched a theatrical film by themselves.

I could see WB working with Paramount or MGM on a DC film, but on a co-finance basis like Legendary or RatPac.

 

[brandeezy89]

Why would you have Amazon Studios be in charge of a DC film or series? They haven’t successfully launched a theatrical film by themselves.

I could see WB working with Paramount or MGM on a DC film, but on a co-finance basis like Legendary or RatPac.

This is the only way I see any other studio besides WB making a DC film. Basically like the Sony/Marvel deal but only for one film.

 

[mclay18]

I can’t see WB and Amazon partnering on a major film. Especially after that Goldfinch film bombed like no one’s business.

The only reason Amazon is working with WB on the LOTR series is because they want to use material from the original film trilogy.

 

[-JKR-]

Sounds like your typical MCU fanboy (or DC fanboy who hopes to see their movies turn into MCU clones) making sh*t up for his own excitement.