Warner Bros. Discovery now sees cost savings of $4 billion post-merger, up from $3.5 billion.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels today predicts that the company will realize total cost savings of $4 billion from the merger of Discovery and Warner Media, up from a previous commitment of $3.5 billion.

The chief financial officer provided the update on a call to work out WBD’s mixed financials for the fourth quarter. Wiedenfels and CEO David Zaslav were more optimistic than before about the operational and financial prospects of the multi-billion dollar company. The savings come with $5.3 billion in restructuring costs, as content is canceled and redirected, and layoffs are sought.

WBD executives’ original promise was $3 billion in cost savings. Big Discovery and now WBD shareholder John Malone hinted early in the deal that $4 billion was a possibility. And senior insiders tell Deadline that the figure could be even closer to $5 billion.

RELATED: Warner Bros. Discovery Earnings Day: Full Deadline Coverage

Double spending extends from technology to advertising and sales staff and real estate.

The company realized $1 billion in savings by the end of last year. The merger was completed last April.

“Most of our restructuring is behind us,” Zaslav said at the start of the conversation. “We have our business under control” and the management “is all rolling in the same direction”.

Wiedenfels called the fourth quarter a “defining chapter” in the company’s global financial organization.

WBD saw a decline in revenue and loss in the last three months of 2022. But streaming losses fell and free cash flow rose. Wiedenfels said WBD will continue to reduce its nearly $50 billion in debt and reach investment-grade net debt next year. Debt alone is not the most important measure, leverage is. It is measured by leverage – a company’s total liabilities divided by its equity.