When AT&T acquired the former Time Warner business for $85 billion in 2018, it assumed control over an unwieldy collection of content production and distribution arms that served as mini fiefdoms. Though the company has worked to streamline those units over the years, the launch of HBO Max in May has forced leadership to reconsider how its operations work together. The service, which combines programming from across the WarnerMedia content universe, had 28.7 million total subscribers but just 8.6 million activated users at the end of the third quarter. Combined, HBO and HBO Max have 38 million U.S. subscribers.