Meet Gunnar Wiedenfels, the finance chief about to lead WBD networks

By day, Gunnar Wiedenfels is the chief financial officer of Warner Bros. Discovery and the CEO-elect of Discovery Global, one half of the soon-to-be-split company.

In his off hours, Wiedenfels is a beekeeper.

The media executive picked up apiculture with his children as a way to soften their fears about insects. He called it “an unforgettable experience” and a great life lesson. It’s also provided holiday gifts of honey for his colleagues.

“Although it has been frustrating at times to just keep these hives surviving,” Wiedenfels told CNBC in an interview, “one of the greatest lessons with bees is you have to keep calm. Never try inspecting your hives when stressed or in a rush. It won’t end well. The same hive, when approached 15 minutes later in peace, may be the most welcome.”

Wiedenfels said the same wisdom applies to his day job and his next step.

In June, Warner Bros. Discovery announced its intention to split into two public companies, effectively reversing the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery three years ago. Wiedenfels will take the helm of Discovery Global, the company that will house WBD’s TV networks including CNN, HGTV and TNT.

The streaming and studio assets of Warner Bros. Discovery, to be renamed Warner Bros., will be run by current CEO David Zaslav. Both companies will trade publicly by mid-2026, according to corporate filings.

The separation puts Wiedenfels in the CEO seat for the first time to lead a company with one of the largest portfolios of cable networks in the U.S. His financial background and recent initiatives at WBD have earned Wiedenfels a reputation as a shrewd decision-maker focused on the numbers.

“I think with Gunnar, he’s the cost-cutting guy. He’s the hard-nosed accountant, cost-focused, cost-cutter,” said John Hodulik, an analyst at UBS. “And that’s what this business is going to need. His job is to stay ahead of the declines on the cost side, and frankly, he’s perfect for it.”

After the 2022 merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery, Wiedenfels had to contend with a debt load that initially totaled $56 billion. It’s since been cut down to roughly $35 billion.

“We’ve come a very long way over these 3½ years,” Wiedenfels said.

Colleagues from across the Warner Bros. Discovery business said in a series of interviews that Wiedenfels has done more than cut budgets, however. He’s also been integral to investment, growth and preparing the business to be split into two viable companies.

He takes the helm at a pivotal moment for media, as yearslong declines in pay TV customers show signs of stabilization and a rebalancing of priorities brings a new crop of decision-makers like Wiedenfels to the fore.

Turning Discovery Global into an investor darling won’t be easy. Warner Bros. Discovery shares have fallen more than 50% since the April 2022 merger, largely because shareholders viewed cable networks as declining assets that weighed down the company’s growth prospects.

Most of WBD’s remaining debt will be transferred to Discovery Global, which could put the company in a difficult position to simultaneously demonstrate growth and pay off debt. Wiedenfels said he believes both can be done, noting the networks are still a cash cow and there are no near-term debt maturities, leaving room to do deals.

Still, the onus is on Wiedenfels to give investors a reason to believe in Discovery Global’s narrative.

He doesn’t expect the business to return to its glory days. Streaming services have finally begun to reach profitability and while traditional pay TV networks are still profitable, that number is shrinking.

“I’m not trying to position it as a growth company,” Wiedenfels said. “We know the secular trends, but these are enormous assets we can build on and build around.”

He’ll also have to manage a wearied group of employees, many of whom have lived through several value-draining mergers, including AOL’s 2000 acquisition of Time Warner (still the largest U.S. deal ever at $165 billion and occasionally called the worst deal of all time), AT&T’s 2018 acquisition of Time Warner ($85.4 billion, and also in the running for worst deal ever) and WarnerMedia’s 2022 merger with Discovery.

Much of the necessary cost-cutting at WBD has taken place since the merger, according to a person close to the company, and discussions have already started about growth strategies for Discovery Global’s streaming and the international business, among other units.