Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav could become a billionaire should Paramount Skydance close a deal to acquire the legacy media company, though Zaslav’s payout would be cut by one-third should the sale be completed next year, according to a regulatory filing.
Key Facts
- Zaslav will earn more than $667 million after Warner Bros. Discovery’s sale to Paramount is closed, Warner Bros. Discovery disclosed late Monday.
- That includes $34.2 million in severance, $517.2 million in equity and vested stock awards estimated to be worth $115.8 million, Warner Bros. Discovery said, though Zaslav could also earn an additional $335.4 million tax reimbursement, potentially bringing his total payout to just over $1 billion.
- It’s unlikely the tax reimbursement will be that large by the time the sale closes: The company calculated the reimbursement on March 11, and the later Paramount’s deal for Warner Bros. Discovery closes, the smaller Zaslav’s payment becomes.
- The tax reimbursement could be reduced to zero should the deal be completed in 2027, Warner Bros. Discovery said.
- Zaslav has earned hundreds of millions of dollars over the decades as a media executive, including more than $246 million as Discovery Communications CEO in 2021 and roughly $152 million in 2014, with his $3 million salary boosted by stock awards and bonuses in recent years.
David Zaslav’s Media Career: From Nbc To Discovery
Zaslav worked as an attorney with the law firm LeBoeuf, Lamb, Leiby & MacRae from 1985 until 1989, when he joined NBC and helped launch CNBC and MSNBC. He departed NBC to become Discovery’s chief executive in 2006. Zaslav served in that role until he became Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO in 2022, after Discovery merged with AT&T’s WarnerMedia.
Big Number
$114.1 million. That’s how much Zaslav earned by selling more than 4 million Warner Bros. Discovery shares four days after the company signed an agreement with Paramount, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing. Eight other insiders sold more than $98 million in shares that same day, including Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels, who sold roughly $28 million in equity.
Surprising Fact
Paramount CEO David Ellison and Ellison’s father, Oracle chairman Larry Ellison, approached Zaslav in September to offer Zaslav a compensation package worth “several hundred million dollars,” Warner Bros. Discovery disclosed. David Ellison offered Zaslav the role of co-CEO and co-chair of the board of the combined company in Paramount’s second proposal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, though Zaslav told the Ellisons it would be “inappropriate to discuss any such arrangements at that time.”
Key Background
Paramount emerged with the winning offer for Warner Bros. Discovery last month, after Netflix pulled out of a contentious back-and-forth to acquire the company. Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery reached an agreement for the streamer to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming businesses in an $82.7 billion deal in December, and Paramount submitted a $108 billion takeover bid just days later. Paramount increased its offer from $30 per share to $31 per share in February in a proposal valuing Warner Bros. Discovery at about $77 billion. Netflix said it was “no longer financially attractive” to match Paramount’s revised offer, adding its earlier deal was “always ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price.”
This article was originally published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
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