Who Owns Warner Bros.?

Warner Bros. was founded on April 4, 1923, by four brothers: Harry Warner, Albert Warner, Sam Warner, and Jack Warner. The brothers had been involved in the film business since the early 1900s, operating nickelodeons and film exchanges before establishing their own production company. The studio was initially located in Hollywood, California.

Warner Bros. made history in 1927 with the release of The Jazz Singer, the first feature-length film with synchronized dialogue sequences. While not the first sound film, The Jazz Singer demonstrated the commercial viability of talking pictures and accelerated the transition from silent films to talkies across the entire industry. Sam Warner, who had championed the sound technology, died the day before the film's premiere.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Warner Bros. became known for its distinctive style of gritty, socially conscious films. The studio produced landmark gangster films (Little Caesar, The Public Enemy, Scarface), musicals (42nd Street, Gold Diggers), and dramas that reflected the social realities of the Depression era. Stars like James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, and Errol Flynn became synonymous with the Warner Bros. brand.

Warner Bros. also developed one of the most beloved animation studios in history. The Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series, featuring characters like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, and the Road Runner, became cultural icons that remain beloved worldwide. Directors like Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, and Friz Freleng created a distinctive comedic style that influenced animation for generations.

In the post-war era, Warner Bros. expanded into television production, becoming one of the first major studios to embrace the new medium. The studio produced popular television series and continued to produce major theatrical films. The studio changed ownership multiple times: it was sold to Seven Arts Productions in 1967, then to Kinney National Company in 1969, which renamed itself Warner Communications.

Time Inc. merged with Warner Communications in 1990 to form Time Warner, one of the world's largest media companies. Time Warner subsequently acquired Turner Broadcasting System (1996), bringing CNN, TNT, TBS, and the Turner film library under the same corporate umbrella. AOL merged with Time Warner in 2001 in what became one of the most disastrous mergers in corporate history, with the combined company losing hundreds of billions in value.

AT&T acquired Time Warner in 2018 for $85 billion, renaming the media assets WarnerMedia. In 2022, AT&T spun off WarnerMedia and merged it with Discovery, Inc. to form Warner Bros. Discovery. The merger created a major streaming competitor with the Max platform (combining HBO Max and Discovery+ content).