Every deal has its own rationale and its own narrative that follows separation – you can’t say the act itself guarantees any particular outcome. What's next for this one?

Four years ago, David Zaslav clinched a debt-heavy deal to merge cable mainstay Discovery Inc. — which he’d run since 2006 — with what was then called WarnerMedia. The story he told investors was that the two entities’ diverse array of media assets “are better and more valuable together.” He doesn’t believe that anymore.

Subscribers to the company’s flagship streaming service, Max, watch HBO content, studio movies and older Warner Bros. series — and little else.