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.

He points out that the AT&T deal that formed Warner Bros. Discovery in the first place helped set the template Zaslav and Wiedenfels are following into the future with Streaming & Studios and Global Networks.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s announced separation follows the industry’s latest M&A trend. In this case, separation is easy. Successfully shaping what comes next is the hard part.