lawsuits

Warner Bros. Sued for Allegedly Embellishing Subscriber Numbers

Photo-Illustration: Martin Gee

In a new report from The Wrap, Warner Bros. Discovery is being sued by Illinois-based shareholder Collinsville Police Pension Board in a class-action lawsuit for allegedly misleading shareholders about the number of subscribers for HBO Max. The lawsuit states that during the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery, they “overstated the number of subscribers to HBO Max by as many as 10 million subscribers, by including as subscribers AT&T customers who had received bundled access to HBO Max, but had not signed onto the service.†It names Warner Bros. Discovery, CEO David Zaslav, and CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels as defendants and could potentially have “hundreds of thousands†of plaintiffs. They are seeking a jury trial for monetary damages and alleging three independent Securities and Exchange Commission violations. Discovery shares were initially valued at $24.78 in April of this year while the current value of the WBD stock is now valued at $11.32. Vulture has reached out to Warner Bros. Discovery for comment.

Warner Bros. Sued for Allegedly Embellishing HBO Max Numbers