Adds Warner Bros Discovery, Honeywell, Fortive
June 9 (Reuters) - Warner Bros Discovery WBD.O has become the latest multinational to break up its business, with a plan to separate its studios and streaming business from its fading cable television networks.
The two-way split of the company, formed out of a merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery in 2022, marks the latest move in the unraveling of decades of consolidation in the media sector.
Here is a list of some of the biggest U.S. corporate splits from the recent past.
YEAR | COMPANY | DESCRIPTION |
2025 | Warner Bros Discovery WBD.O | Warner Bros Discovery says it will split into two companies, separating its studios and streaming business from its cable television networks, in a tax-free transaction. |
2025 | Honeywell HON.O | Honeywell is splitting into three independently listed companies, separating its aerospace and automation businesses into separate entities, alongside its previously announced spin-off of the advanced materials unit. |
2024 | Fortive FTV.N | Industrial products maker Fortive says it plans to spin off its Precision Technologies segment, creating two independent, publicly traded companies |
2024 | DuPont DD.N | DuPont says it will separate its electronics and water businesses in tax-free transactions, while the new DuPont will continue as a diversified industrial company. |
2024 | Masimo Corp MASI.O | Masimo says it is evaluating a proposed spinoff of its consumer business, including its consumer health and audio products. The firm says it will retain its healthcare and telehealth products, and that the spinoff will improve the profitability of its healthcare business. |
2023 | Lionsgate LION.O | Lionsgate says it will spin off its studio unit in a blank-check deal. Says its studio business will merge with the Screaming Eagle Acquisition Corp SPAC to create a new public firm for Lionsgate's film and television assets. |
2023 | Citigroup C.N | Citi says it will split its Mexico retail unit, known as Banamex, from its corporate and investment banking business in the country by the second half of 2024. The retail unit should begin the process of going public in 2025. |
2023 | Edwards Lifesciences EW.N | Edwards Lifesciences says it will spin off its critical care unit at the end of 2024 to concentrate on its larger heart devices business. |
2023 | Western Digital WDC.O | Western Digital says it will spin off its flash memory business - that has been grappling with a supply glut - after talks to merge the unit with Japan's Kioxia stall. |
2022 | Medtronic MDT.N | Medtronic says it will spin off its patient-monitoring and respiratory interventions businesses into a new company as it seeks a streamlined portfolio and faster revenue growth. |
2022 | $Danaher Corp(DHR-W)$ DHR.N | Medical technology firm Danaher Corp says it will separate its Environmental & Applied Solutions segment to grow its Life Sciences and Diagnostics businesses. |
2022 | Laboratory Corp of America Holdings LH.N | Labcorp says it will spin off its wholly owned business focused on clinical drug trials. Its Fortrea FTRE.O clinical development unit is now listed on the Nasdaq. |
2022 | 3M Co MMM.N | 3M Co says it plans to spin off its healthcare business into a separate public-listed company. It says the new company will be called Solventum and names Bryan Hanson CEO. |
2022 | Kellogg Co | Kellogg spins off its North American cereals business into WK Kellogg Co KLG.N and its global snacking business into Kellanova K.N. |
2022 | AT&T T.N | AT&T spins off WarnerMedia in a $43 billion transaction to merge its media properties with Discovery Inc. The new company is called Warner Bros Discovery WBD.O. |
2021 | Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N | Johnson & Johnson says it plans to break up into two companies, splitting its consumer health division. In 2023, it spins off and lists its consumer health business, Kenvue KVUE.N. |
2021 | General Electric Co | General Electric says it will split into three public companies focusing on energy, healthcare and aviation. It spins off its health division, GE HealthCare GEHC.O, in 2023, followed by GE Aerospace GE.N and its energy unit GE Vernova GEV.N in April 2024. |
2021 | IBM IBM.N | IBM spins off a large chunk of its company - the managed and infrastructure business - as Kyndryl KD.N in November, as the century-old tech company sheds its slow-growing business to focus on its high-margin cloud and artificial intelligence businesses. |
2020 | United Technologies | In March, United Technologies Corp approves the spinoffs of Carrier Global Corporation CARR.N and Otis Worldwide Corporation OTIS.N. |
2019 | DuPont DD.N | DowDuPont Inc spins off its materials science division Dow Inc DOW.N in April and agriscience company Corteva CTVA.N in June - part of its split into three companies. |
2016 | Honeywell International HON.O | In September, Honeywell International Inc, a U.S. manufacturer of aerospace parts and climate control systems, approves the spinoff of its $1.3 billion resins and chemicals operations into a standalone company, AdvanSix Inc ASIX.N. |
2015 | Hewlett Packard Co HPE.N | In November, Hewlett-Packard splits into two listed companies: Hewlett Packard Enterprise HPE.N, comprising its corporate hardware and service business, and Hewlett-Packard, renamed HP Inc HPQ.N, consisting of its computers and printers business. |
2015 | Ebay Inc EBAY.O | In June, e-commerce firm eBay EBAY.O approves the spinoff of PayPal PYPL.O. |
1984 | AT&T Inc T.N | The U.S. government files an antitrust lawsuit against AT&T Corp in 1974 because of its monopoly over telephone lines. After eight years of litigation, the two sides reach a settlement and AT&T gives up control of its regional operating companies, Baby Bells. |
(Reporting by Vallari Srivastava, Deborah Sophia, Kannaki Deka, Neil J Kanatt in Bengaluru and Lewis Krauskopf in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis, Anil D'Silva, Sriraj Kalluvila, Arun Koyyur, Pooja Desai and Shailesh Kuber)
((Roshia.Sabu@thomsonreuters.com;))
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