Samuel Di Piazza, who currently sits on AT&T’s board, will be chairman of Warner Bros. Discovery.
AT&T has named its seven appointees to the Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. Board of Directors as it prepares to spin off WarnerMedia and combine it with Discovery, Inc.
As announced in May 2021, the Warner Bros. Discovery Board will consist of 13 members, with six chosen by Discovery and seven chosen by AT&T, including the Chairman of the Board.
In a statement, AT&T Chief Executive Officer John Stankey said: “We are delighted to have assembled a diverse slate of world-class directors for the Warner Bros. Discovery Board. These respected leaders bring a wealth of experience in finance, technology, media and entertainment, international trade, venture capital, and digital and direct-to-consumer platforms that is vitally important to the future of Warner Bros. Discovery. They are committed to the company’s success while providing best-in-class corporate governance.”
Samuel A. Di Piazza, Jr. will serve as Chairman of the Warner Bros. Discovery Board of Directors. He previously served as global CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited from 2002 until his retirement in 2009, wrapping a 36-year career with PwC. After his retirement from PwC, he joined Citigroup where he served as vice-chairman from 2011 to 2014. A financial expert, he will bring significant executive and business leadership experience to the Warner Bros. Discovery Board through his leadership of a multicultural, complex professional services organisation serving clients around the world.
The seven directors appointed by AT&T are DiPiazza; Li Haslett Chen, founder and CEO of commerce and payments platform Narrativ; Richard Fisher, senior adviser to Barclays and former president/CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas; Debra Lee, previously chair and CEO of BET Networks; Fazal Merchant, senior adviser to Sixth Street Partners; Paula Price, former CFO of Macy’s; and Geoff Yang, founding partner and managing director of venture-capital firm Redpoint Ventures.
Di Piazza, Lee and Yang currently serve on the AT&T Board of Directors and will resign those positions at the close of the Discovery transaction. Following their departure, AT&T expects to reduce the number of board directors from 13 to 10, reflecting the company’s more focused business model.
Discovery’s designated board members for the new entity, as previously announced, are David Zaslav, who is set to become president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery; Robert Bennett, managing director of investment firm Hilltop Investments; John Malone, chairman of Liberty Media, Liberty Broadband and Liberty Global; Paul Gould, managing director at Allen & Co.; Steven Miron, CEO of media company Advance/Newhouse Partnership; and Steven Newhouse, co-president of the Newhouse family’s Advance investment business. (Bennett, Malone, Miron and Gould have been Discovery directors since 2008; Zaslav joined the board in 2007.)
AT&T and Discovery expect the transaction to close early in Q2 2022.
