Four years ago, 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.” He doesn’t believe that anymore.

NEW YORK — Warner Bros. Discovery will calve off cable operations from its streaming service, creating two independent companies as the number of people “cutting the cord” brings with it a sustained upheaval in the entertainment industry.

Warner Bros. Discovery will split into two companies by next year, with much of its streaming and movie production moving under one company and its live sports and news to another, according to the Washington Post .

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.

Though the new year has almost passed its first full fiscal quarter, media layoffs across the entertainment industry have continued to bleed over from last year’s avalanche of job cuts. The unfortunate trend can still be felt following the COVID-19 pandemic,