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.

Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. was downgraded to junk by Moody’s Ratings, cementing the media giant as a fallen angel just years after it sold one of the biggest high-grade bond deals on record.

The film and television giant will turn its cable networks, including CNN and TNT, into one company and its streaming and studios business into another.