Warner Bros. Discovery announces its board of directors

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Discovery and AT&T have announced the board of directors for who will help run the combined company Warner Bros. Discovery once the deal closes later in 2022.

Board membership draws from both members of both companies’ boards as well as new members.

Samuel Di Piazza will be chairman of the board. Di Piazza is currently on the AT&T board.

Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who is slated to take over the new company as CEO, will be the Warner Bros. Discovery designee on the new board.

As part of the merger deal, Discovery is granted six designated board members while AT&T will have seven. The deal is officially structured as AT&T spinning off WarnerMedia to Discovery.

Billionaire and veteran media leader John Malone will get another of Discovery’s seats. He has long been a proponent of the merger.

The complete list of Warner Bros. Discovery board will look like this:

• Samuel Di Piazza
• David Zaslav
• Robert R. Bennett: Discovery director since 2008 and managing director of Hilltop Investments, a private investment company
• Li Haslett Chen: Founder and CEO of Narrativ, a commerce and payments platform
• Richard W. Fisher: Former CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas from 2005 until 2015
• Paul A. Gould: A Discovery director since 2008 and managing director and EVP at investment bank Allen & Co.
• Debra L. Lee: A current AT&T director, chair of Leading Women Defined Foundation, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit education and advocacy organization; and BET Networks chair and CEO from 2006 until 2018
• John C. Malone: Discovery director since 2008 and chairman of the boards of Liberty Media Corporation, Liberty Broadband Corporation and Liberty Global
• Fazal Merchant: Senior advisor to Sixth Street Partners and former Co-CEO of Tanium Inc., a subscription based global cyber-security and IT management company
• Steven A. Miron: A Discovery director since 2008, and CEO of the privately held media company Advance/Newhouse, and a senior executive officer at Advance, a private, family-held business that owns and invests in media and technology companies
• Steven O. Newhouse: Co-President of Advance, a private, family-held business that owns and invests in companies across media, entertainment, technology, communications, education, mass participation sports and other sectors
• Paula A. Price: Former CFO of Macy’s
• Geoffrey Y. Yang: A current AT&T director and founding partner and managing director of Redpoint Ventures, a global private equity and venture capital firm based in Woodside, California

Like with most corporate boards, it is common for membership to draw from current and former executives of other large companies and ventures.