Last week, a source who happened to have been in Warner Bros. Discovery’s corporate offices on Park Avenue South relayed an intriguing observation: The executive suite where David Zaslav and his top deputies keep their New York offices had effectively been cordoned off, visitors were not being allowed onto the floor, and Zaz’s charges appeared to be in triage mode. It may have been more innocuous than the source surmised—they may have simply been preparing for today’s devastating corporate earnings call. But, in the dog days of summer, it was exactly the sort of detail that provoked curiosity among both the Hollywood and East Hampton chattering classes and trouble starters. A game of telephone ensued as Zaz held it down in Paris.

Of course, WBD is a hotbed of intrigue these days, especially as the market cap hovers under $19 billion, with an enterprise value around $58 billion. The $7.20 share price now barely covers the cost of olives at the Hotel de Crillon. In the latest indignity, WBD on Wednesday reported a $10.2 billion quarterly operating loss, which was driven by a $9.1 billion write-off for its TV networks business stemming from “uncertainty related to affiliate and sports rights renewals, including the NBA.” The company missed its earnings by about $300 million. The stock dropped another 9 percent after hours, at least as of this writing.