Miron and Newhouse quit WBD board amid DoJ probe

Two of Warner Bros. Discovery’s independent directors, Steven A. Miron and Steven O. Newhouse, have resigned, effective immediately.

Source: Warner Bros Discovery

Miron and Newhouse resigned after the US Department of Justice informed them that it was investigating whether their service on the board violated Section 8 of the Clayton Antitrust Act.

The pair had informed WBD that, without admitting any violation, they elected to resign rather than to contest the matter.

Miron and Newhouse were each appointed to the WBD Board after the closing of the merger between Discovery. and WarnerMedia in 2022, and served as Class III directors, with initial terms that were scheduled to expire next year. Both were originally named by Discovery, Inc. as two of its six designees to the WBD Board.

Miron is CEO of Advance/Newhouse Partnership and a senior executive officer at family-owned investment outfit Advance. He previously served as a Discovery, Inc. director from 2008-2022, and was on the WBD compensation committee.

Newhouse is co-president of Advance. He previously served as a board observer at Discovery from 2008-2022, and was on the WBD nomination and corporate governance committee.

The Miron and Newhouse families are well-known as investors in the US cable business. Miron served as CEO of Bright House Networks through its sale to Charter Communications and serves as a Charter board member.

WBD is reducing the number of directors on the board to 11 following the pair’s departure.

“On behalf of our Board and WBD’s leadership team, I want to thank Steve Miron and Steven Newhouse for their extraordinary service and longstanding commitment to Discovery and Warner Bros. Discovery. Both Steve and Steven have been a great source of wise counsel and tremendous industry insight over the years, and they played an integral role in getting this new company up and running and on a path to long-term growth. We are enormously grateful for their steadfast support and wish them the very best,” said David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Samuel A. Di Piazza, Jr., chair of WBD said: “On behalf of the entire WBD Board of Directors, I would like to express my gratitude to Steve Miron and Steven Newhouse for their service on behalf of WBD’s stockholders and their many contributions to the deliberations and work of the Board. We will miss having them as colleagues in the Board room and wish them all the best in their future endeavors.”

Newhouse said “From our investment in the Discovery Channel in the earliest days of cable, through Bob Miron’s service as Discovery’s Board Chair and Steve and my service on this board, and with the enormous efforts of John Malone and David Zaslav, we are proud to have played a role in the building of this great company and remain a large stockholder. We are disappointed to leave the Board, but wish to do the right thing for WBD.”