Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) stock fell 2.22% (As on Apr 12, 2:06:24 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the first trading day of the media and streaming firm formed from the $43-billion merger of Discovery Inc and assets of AT&T Inc. AT&T and Discovery set out to create a standalone media business in May last year and the deal closed on Friday, with the new business housing channels including HBO, CNN and the Discovery Channel as well as franchises like “Batman” and “Harry Potter”. Under terms of the agreement, AT&T received $40.4 billion in cash and WarnerMedia’s retention of certain debt at close.  On April 11, the company began trading on the Nasdaq under the new ticker symbol “WBD.” AT&T shareholders received 0.241917 shares of WBD for each share of AT&T held, subsequently receiving 1.7 billion shares of WBD, which represents 71% of the total. AT&T shareholders continue to hold the same number of shares of AT&T common stock they held immediately prior to close. The combined media and entertainment company, Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., will house three streaming services: HBO Max, Discovery+ and CNN+; Warner Bros. studio; and cable channels such as TNT, TBS, Food Network, Investigation Discovery, TLC, Discovery, truTV, Travel Channel, MotorTrend, Animal Planet, Science Channel, New Line Cinema, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, HGTV and HBO, among others.

Further,  Ultimately, the newly formed media giant becomes one of the biggest players in the industry, alongside Disney and Netflix. The estimated market cap for Warner Bros. Discovery is between $45 billion and $60 billion. This puts it in third place, next to Disney, with a market cap of $240 billion and Netflix’s market cap of $161 billion. The combined value of the company is predicted to be $130 billion, according to Axios, and its 2023 revenue is anticipated to be around $52 billion, with $15 billion expected from DTC revenue. Deadline reported that the projected combined revenue for the company in 2022 is $49.8 million.

Meanwhile, with the close of this transaction, the company expects to invest at record levels in our growth areas of 5G and fiber, where the company will have strong momentum, while it is working to become America’s best broadband company. At the same time, the company plans to sharpen its focus on returns to shareholders. the company expects to invest for growth, strengthen the balance sheet and reduce the debt, all while continuing to pay an attractive dividend that puts the company among the top dividend-paying stocks in America