US-listed media group WarnerMedia has shuttered its corporate venturing unit, WarnerMedia Investments, Digiday reported on Friday, citing six sources familiar with the matter.
Formed in 1998 as Time Warner Investments, WarnerMedia Investments was rebranded following the conversion of its parent company from Time Warner to WarnerMedia in June 2018, after it was acquired by telecommunications firm AT&T.
The vehicle has built up a substantial new media and media technology portfolio that includes in-game communication software producer Discord, valued at more than $2bn as of last month, and fantasy sports platform and fellow unicorn FanDuel, as well as NextVR and Conviva, which have each raised more than $100m.
WarnerMedia Investments’ exits include online streaming management company Maker, which Disney acquired for $500m in 2014, advertising technology provider Adify, which was picked up by Cox Enterprises in a $300m deal in 2008, and content monetisation platform PlaySpan, bought by Visa in a $190m deal in 2011.
However, the unit has ceased to invest, sources told Digiday, and Allison Goldberg, a senior vice-president who was also the unit’s managing director, has departed from the company according to an automated email response.
A downfall in the valuations of new media companies has stung WarnerMedia Investments, whose last recorded investment was in video app development platform You.i TV in November 2018. Digital media properties and portfolio companies Mashable and Mic have both sold for fractions of their past value in recent months.
The unit’s portfolio is currently being managed by Priya Dogra, executive vice-president of strategy and corporate development for WarnerMedia, and could potentially be sold to another investor, the sources said.
However, Dallas Business Journal reported on Saturday that WarnerMedia Investments will instead be absorbed into WarnerMedia Innovation Lab, a newly formed incubator and partnership hub headed by Jesse Redniss, formerly executive vice-president of data strategy and product innovation for Warner subsidiary Turner.
A source familiar with the unit’s investment history told Digiday: “It was run by people who were experienced VCs. And from a financial performance basis, the fund was consistently performing well; even with its digital publishing assets, it was in the top quintile.”
Goldberg had been promoted to lead what was then known as Time Warner Investments after the retirement of Rachel Lam in 2017, and had maintained Lam’s policy of actively supporting companies and promoting her team.
Time Warner had hired Goldberg in 2001 after she spent a year as a venture capital associate at Groupe Arnault, having jumped from media investment banking at Morgan Stanley during the dotcom years after graduating in economics and finance at Wharton School.
Additional reporting by James Mawson.
