Warner Bros Discovery has announced plans to separate into two standalone entities— effectively unravelling a rotten merger which has made every mistake in the book since its ill-fated $43 billion formation in 2022. While there is an endless list of problems, the most glaring is that the complex separation plans will not complete until mid-2026, by which time WBD will have a host of new challenges to deal with. A year is a long time in the cutthroat content industry, and WBD’s lack of urgency is ominous. On paper, the separation plans are relatively straightforward. Executing them, however, will be a messy affair. On one side of the coin will be Streaming & Studios—housing the flagship HBO and HBO Max…