---
title: "TIMELINE-From Time Inc to Discovery: Warner Bros sale plan puts spotlight on checkered M&A history"
description: "Warner Bros Discovery is considering a potential sale due to interest from various buyers, while also moving forward with a split into two companies. The timeline highlights significant events in Warn"
type: "news"
locale: "en"
url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/262077376.md"
published_at: "2025-10-21T13:35:52.000Z"
---

# TIMELINE-From Time Inc to Discovery: Warner Bros sale plan puts spotlight on checkered M&A history

> Warner Bros Discovery is considering a potential sale due to interest from various buyers, while also moving forward with a split into two companies. The timeline highlights significant events in Warner Bros' history, including its founding in 1923, various mergers and acquisitions, and the recent merger with Discovery in 2022. The company plans to separate its streaming and studio businesses from its cable TV assets by 2025, amidst ongoing sale discussions.

June 9 (Reuters) - Warner Bros Discovery (WBD.O) is considering a possible outright sale of itself due to interest from several potential buyers, it said on Tuesday, even as it moves forward with a previously announced split into two companies.

Date Event

1922 Time Inc was founded by Henry Luce and Briton

Hadden to house Time magazine, a weekly news

publication that made world affairs

accessible to the average reader. The first

issue of Time magazine was published in March

1923.

1923 Warner Bros was founded by brothers Harry,

Albert, Sam and Jack Warner as a film studio

in Hollywood. It revolutionized cinema with

the introduction of synchronized sound in

films.

1969 Kinney National Company, a conglomerate that

later transitioned into media, buys Warner

Bros-Seven Arts and later spins off its

non-media businesses.

1972 HBO is founded by Charles Dolan with backing

from Time. It was the first U.S.

subscription-based cable network, offering

uncut, commercial-free movies and live

sports, pioneering premium cable television.

1990 Time Inc merges with Warner Communications in

a $14 billion deal, hailed as a “marriage of

content and distribution,” creating Time

Warner, then the largest media company in the

world.

1996 Time Warner merges with Turner Broadcasting,

gaining Cartoon Network, CNN, TNT and a vast

classic film library.

2000 Time Warner merges with AOL, forming AOL Time

Warner, the largest merger in history at the

time, aiming to merge traditional and digital

media.

2002 AOL Time Warner merger begins to unravel as

AOL’s value collapses with the launch of an

SEC investigation, prompted by allegations of

accounting irregularities and inflated

revenue reports at AOL.

2003 CEO Steve Case resigns from AOL Time Warner.

2004 Time Warner sells Warner Music to a private

equity group led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. for

$2.6 billion.

2009 Time Warner fully spins off Time Warner

Cable, which had already been partially

separated in 2007, ending its role in cable

distribution.

2009 Time Warner spins off AOL.

2013 Time Warner spins off Time, its magazine

division, which includes Time, People,

Fortune and Sports Illustrated, marking its

formal exit from publishing.

2016 AT&T announces acquisition of Time Warner for

$85 billion.

2018 AT&T completes its acquisition of Time Warner

after regulator’s approval, renaming it

WarnerMedia.

2021 AT&T announced it would spin off WarnerMedia

and merge it with Discovery Inc to create a

new standalone media company.

2022 WarnerMedia and Discovery complete their

merger in a $43 billion deal.

2025 Warner Bros Discovery announces it would

separate into two companies — one focusing on

streaming and studios businesses, while the

second will house its cable TV assets.

2025 Warner Bros Discovery is weighing a potential

sale amid interest from several suitors, even

as it proceeds with plans to split into two

companies.

### Related Stocks

- [WBD.US - Warner Bros. Discovery](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/WBD.US.md)

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> **Disclaimer**: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.
