Warner Bros Discovery Inc had a solid intro to life as a publicly listed company.
The media and streaming company, formed from the merger of Discovery Inc, the company behind HBO, and parts of telecoms giant AT&T Inc, opened 0.8% higher at US$24.62.
Shares in AT&T, which owns 71% of the merged company, were down by around a fifth owing to a technical adjustment of the share price.
Under the terms of the merger agreement, AT&T received US$40.4 billion in cash from the sale of the assets.
Warner Bros Discovery Inc will run three streaming services as it seeks to compete with Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney: HBO Max, Discovery+, and CNN+.
As well as owning the Warner Bros film studio the company also owns several cable TV channels.
Warner Bros Discovery chief executive officer, David Zaslav, claimed the company had “the most differentiated and complete portfolio of content across film, television, and streaming” when the deal was closed last Friday.
“We are confident that we can bring more choice to consumers around the globe while fostering creativity and creating value for shareholders. I can’t wait for both teams to come together to make Warner Bros. Discovery the best place for impactful storytelling,” Zaslav said.