Inside the Discovery-AT&T Deal: Cute Emails, a Big Loan and Now, a Media Giant

An early-morning meeting at a Greenwich Village townhouse, under the watchful eye of Steve McQueen, was part of a monthslong campaign.

In the predawn hours of April 1, David Zaslav, the chief executive of Discovery, arrived at a rented townhouse in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village — decorated with photos of rock stars and one of the actor Steve McQueen in sunglasses holding a gun — to prepare for a meeting that would soon reverberate across the American media industry. Sworn to secrecy, Mr. Zaslav’s lieutenants snacked on a breakfast of artisanal doughnuts from a 24-hour bakery as they finalized their pitch. Just before 8 a.m., ahead of schedule, their quarry arrived: John Stankey, the AT&T chief executive who controlled the WarnerMedia assets that Mr. Zaslav coveted. A journey that began with an informal, emoji-speckled email exchange in February was now fully underway. The covert discussions would eventually last three months, stretching from Dallas to the Denver suburbs to downtown Manhattan, where a war room was established in the cramped garden level of the rented townhouse. To prevent leaks, bankers used maritime nicknames like “Columbus” and “Magellan.” Even the chief executive of WarnerMedia was kept in the dark while his company was being negotiated out from under him.