Who owns HBO?
HBO is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery (the United States, NASDAQ: WBD).[1]
Evidence: Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-02-27, SEC EDGAR, 27 February 2026. Verified from filings; last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. verified
- Owner HQ
- 🇺🇸 United States, New York, New York
- Origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- Founded
- 1972
- Category
- Media & entertainment › Film & television › Television networks
- Parent ticker
- NASDAQ: WBD
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About HBO
HBO was the first American pay television channel and built its reputation on programmes broadcast networks would not make, from The Sopranos to Succession. Its long slogan, that it is not television, was a claim about editorial freedom rather than about technology.
What Warner Bros. Discovery's annual report says about HBO
Sentences about HBO from Warner Bros. Discovery's latest annual filing[1], copied word for word.
HBO is one of the most respected and innovative entertainment brands in the world, serving iconic, award-winning programming through the HBO linear channels and our DTC streaming service, HBO Max.
In 2025, HBO's crime drama The Penguin earned Colin Farrell a Golden Globe Award in the category for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series, or a Motion Picture Made for Television, and the series garnered nine wins at the 77th Emmy Awards.
Other hit HBO series that returned to critical acclaim in 2025 included The White Lotus , The Gilded Age, and The Last of Us .
How often Warner Bros. Discovery names HBO in its annual report
A plain count of the times the name appears in the text of each annual report, not counting the start of a sentence. A brand that an owner writes about more is usually one it treats as central. The brand is named more often than it was three years earlier.
Ownership timeline of HBO
- Current owner Warner Bros. Discovery [1] verified
Where HBO sits in Warner Bros. Discovery
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Warner Bros. Discovery ownership tree →
See the full Warner Bros. Discovery brand portfolio (9) →
Other brands owned by Warner Bros. Discovery
Warner Bros. Discovery controls 9 brands on Brandtree, 8 of them in media & entertainment.
Also in media & entertainment
- Cartoon Network (1992)
- CNN (1980)
- DC (1934)
- Discovery Channel (1985)
- Food Network (1993)
- TLC (1972)
- Warner Bros. (1923)
Other brands in television networks, and who owns them
The 87 brands in television networks on Brandtree belong to 28 owners. The largest is Sun TV Network, with 7; Warner Bros. Discovery has 6.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Gemini TV | Sun TV Network | 🇮🇳 India |
| Global Television | Corus | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| BET | Paramount Skydance | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Bounce (Scripps network) | Scripps | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Canal+ | Canal+ | 🇫🇷 France |
| AMC | AMC Networks | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Astro | Astro | 🇲🇾 Malaysia |
| Mnet | CJ ENM | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
About the owner: Warner Bros. Discovery
Warner Bros. Discovery is a publicly listed company headquartered in New York, New York, United States, founded in 2022. Brandtree records 9 brands under its control, and it is listed as NASDAQ: WBD.
Warner Bros. Discovery was formed in 2022 when AT&T spun off WarnerMedia and merged it with Discovery, three years after AT&T had paid $85 billion for it. The combined company carries very large debt from that history, which has shaped almost every decision it has made since.
Warner Bros. Discovery: full profile, brands and acquisition history →
🇺🇸 HBO and other American brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,549 brands that began in the United States. 478 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; HBO is not one of them.
- 20th Century Studios — Disney 🇺🇸
- AMC — AMC Networks 🇺🇸
- AMC Theatres — AMC Theatres 🇺🇸
- AMF — Lucky Strike Entertainment 🇺🇸
- Adventure Island — United Parks 🇺🇸
- Antenna TV — Nexstar 🇺🇸
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of HBO?
The parent company of HBO is Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United States.
Is HBO American?
Yes. HBO originated in the United States in 1972 and its owner, Warner Bros. Discovery, is also headquartered in the United States.
Is HBO still owned by Warner Bros. Discovery?
Yes. As of 9 October 2026, HBO is still owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-02-27 — SEC EDGAR, SEC Form 10-K, published 27 February 2026; retrieved 16 September 2026.
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