David Zaslav saw his total compensation package last year jump by more than $10 million to $49.7 million in 2023 — with Warner Bros. Discovery awarding him a base salary of $3 million, plus $23 million in stock awards, and non-equity incentive plan compensation (a cash bonus) of $22 million. It’s the second rather princely CEO package in as many days in an industry known for them as Netflix yesterday unveiled a similarly sized package for co-CEO Ted Sarandos.
A merger put him in the driver’s seat at Warner Brothers, one of the industry’s biggest studios. It has been a wild ride.
David Zaslav, the chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery, was friends with some of the network’s biggest names. That didn’t matter when their jobs were on the line.
CNN Throws In The Towel
In replacing Chris Licht with Mark Thompson, David Zaslav lost an opportunity to move the channel back towards straight news. The loss of reasoned debate among people who disagree, yet still respect each other, is the great tragedy of the 21st century. CNN had a chance to build a small bridge over that chasm of partisanship, but the opportunity now seems to be gone.
The new bundles are coming, according to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav. Speaking at a Goldman Sachs conference Wednesday, the executive said that his company has had discussions with other companies in the content space about developing new bundles to create a better “consumer experience.” Those conversations have picked up “in the last few months,” Zaslav said.
WBD’s David Zaslav Says Industry Must Focus And Fight To Resolve Strikes As They Spill Into The Fall
David Zaslav said today that Warner Bros. Discovery had anticipated putting Hollywood strikes in the rear-view mirror this month, but with no end in sight, he added that “we” would “fight” to find a resolution. “I was in L.A. the last two days, and we really have to focus as industry — and we are trying — to get this resolved in a way that is really fair and everyone feels fairly treated,” he told investors at a Goldman Sachs media conference. “In our guidance, we said that this would be resolved in September. And here we are in September. And this is really a very unusual event to have. The last time it happened was 1960. And so what we did is, we just said we are really going to fight to get this resolved.”
Exclusives
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has reportedly made up his mind about who will replace Chris Licht as the next chairman of CNN. Zaslav has been trying to convince former New York Times boss Mark Thompson to take the reins at Hudson Yards, according to the news site Puck.
The CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, a conglomerate that includes Warner Bros. studios, CNN and HBO, takes on an entertainment business in turmoil.
Not even Fox’s $787 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems can compare to the drama that’s enveloped CNN during and after the one-year reign of Chris Licht, who some insiders have described as a Julius Caesar figure surrounded by backstabbers.
The writer said he asked to have his byline removed after GQ made extensive changes after publication. The magazine removed the story instead.
With CNN head Chris Licht ousted, other Warner Bros. Discovery executives turn their attention to his very hands-on overlord, with one source wondering: “Who wants to have to manage him?”
David Zaslav was met with boos and jeers while delivering a commencement address Sunday at Boston University amid the Hollywood writers’ strike. In videos circulating on social media, graduating students and protesters can be heard chanting, “pay your writers,” and heckling the president of Warner Bros. Discovery as he speaks about lessons he learned throughout his career. A photo of an airplane flying over the ceremony with a banner that read, “David Zaslav — Pay your writers,” was also circulating online.
Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav thinks consolidation is in the cards for streaming platforms, but not necessarily through traditional M&A. “There should be a consolidation, but it is more likely to happen in the repackaging and marketing of products together. That’s what I think makes sense. We have to, as industry, reach that point,” he said during a Q&A at a media conference today. Mergers carry regulatory risks and can take years to close. In a fast-changing industry, “Who knows what the world looks like?”
In a Wednesday Securities and Exchange Commission filing, WBD stated that President-CEO Zaslav’s executive comp package totaled $39.3 million last year. $3.1 million of that sum was his salary, with the rest being stock awards ($12 million), stock option awards ($1.4 million), non-equity incentive plan comp ($21.8 million) and “all other” compensation ($925,489). While Zaslav’s pay is down considerably from 2021, it’s important to note the reason behind the major dip is an unprecedented $203 million stock option grant that inflated his total 2021 compensation package to a staggering $246.6 million.
Warner Bros. Discovery has tweaked its CEO’s employment contract, granting a bigger pot of restricted stock units but linking them to free cash flow targets. David Zaslav, who is currently entitled to receive annual performance-related restricted stock (PRSU) awards with an initial value of $12 million, could now double the number of shares underlying that if the company meets certain targets. And he’s also eligible to receive an additional PRSU award valued at $11.5 million a year.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is prioritizing cash generation over everything else.
The company will have laid off thousands of people this year by the middle of this month.
Zaslav also faces a dilemma with TNT’s NBA rights, which are expensive and run out in 2025.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said Tuesday that entertainment companies are facing a huge challenge — the advertising market is crumbling just as studios are diverting cash to fuel a massive arms race in streaming. “The advertising market right now is very weak … quite weak,” Zaslav said during a presentation at RBC’s annual technology investor conference. “This is weaker than it was during COVID, and right now there is a pretty big miss of the whole Christmas season.”
The top brass at Warner Bros. Discovery held a company-wide town hall Wednesday over Zoom in which they laid out the current state of the company and the industry, acknowledging the hard times amid a slew of cost-cutting and layoffs and emphatically addressing merger rumors with CEO David Zaslav exclaiming, “We are not for sale, absolutely, not for sale.”
Merging is always the easy part. The companies are usually willing to join forces. Bankers and lawyers are incentivized to get the deal done. Plus the media loves a good M&A deal with photo ops of high-fiving CEOs and their grand plans to make history through the process of creative destruction. But then comes the heavy lifting: Successfully combining two often very different companies with different corporate cultures and creating shareholder value. I’ve been around this business long enough to know that there’s lots of destruction in big-time M&A.
The head of Warner Bros. Discovery said the media industry will focus on creating fewer, better shows as the streaming TV wars enter a new phase after Netflix’s surprise loss of customers earlier this year. “The world has changed and it’s not about how much, it’s about how good,” CEO David Zaslav told reporters Tuesday at Allen & Co.’s Sun Valley Conference in Idaho.
Months before the Warner Bros. Discovery deal was completed, execs at the now-merged company promised to find $3 billion in synergy savings over the next three years. In a new memo sent out to Warner Bros. Discovery staff and obtained by Variety, CEO David Zaslav began to elaborate on those plans. In a list of “near-term priorities,” Zaslav mentioned that the company would “focus on financial opportunities.”
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav Tuesday said he doesn’t plan on getting into a streaming arms race as Hollywood’s big entertainment companies bolster their platforms to woo analysts. “I know we have the resources, but we can plan on being careful and judicious,” he said during the company’s conference with analysts after the 1Q earnings were released.
Discovery Inc. CEO David Zaslav, who will lead the merged entity Warner Bros. Discovery, is slated begin making his rounds to WarnerMedia company offices around the country to address employees this week, an individual with knowledge of WarnerMedia says.
The company disclosed latest annual compensation details for its top executives, with the calculation for Zaslav getting a huge boost from stock options he received as part of a contract extension.
Discovery shareholders are set to OK the $43 billion merger with WarnerMedia on Friday, the last big step before AT&T completes the spinoff. Ahead of the deal’s expected close next month, a who’s-in/who’s-out parlor game is gaining intensity as CEO David Zaslav finalizes the leadership team.
Forty-eight hours after one of the media business’ more stunning executive exits in recent memory, speculation continues to swirl as to who, if anyone, put the knife in the back of former CNN chief Jeff Zucker, and what will happen now to the cable news network and its soon-to-launch digital offshoot, CNN Plus. On Friday, in separate CNBC appearances, Discovery CEO David Zaslav and AT&T chief executive John Stankey each, somewhat indirectly, addressed those concerns.
As Discovery is poised to conclude a transformational merger with WarnerMedia by the middle of next year, it’s Zaslav’s job to make sure that company, Warner Bros. Discovery, will be well positioned to evolve and thrive amid a torrent of market disruption. Zaslav speaks about the business challenges ahead for the enlarged entity that he will lead as CEO, assuming the $43 billion merger secures regulatory approval.
Discovery President-CEO David Zaslav ramped up his ire for TV ratings giant Nielsen during a Tuesday conference call tied to Discovery’s second-quarter earnings. The future calls for “better data” than the long-standing measurement currency company offers, Zaslav said. “Unfortunately, Nielsen is a whiff. And it’s just massively disappointing. We have lost money. Everyone has lost money. You’re dealing with a very antiquated delivery system.”
Discovery Inc. CEO David Zaslav, fresh from his announced acquisition of AT&T Inc.’s film and TV businesses, said media consolidation will only accelerate and he intends to be a catalyst. “The talk of the week is going to be that the industry is going to start consolidating a little bit more,” the 61-year-old CEO said on his arrival Tuesday at the annual Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. “We’re not done yet.”
Warner Bros. Discovery is the proposed new moniker for the combined WarnerMedia and Discovery joint venture coming together as AT&T spins off its investment in Time Warner. Discovery chief David Zaslav announced the new name Tuesday morning as he held a town hall with WarnerMedia employees from the Warner Bros. studio’s Burbank lot.
Discovery gave Chief Executive David Zaslav 14.8 million stock options on Sunday, the day before the company and AT&T announced a plan to merge Discovery with AT&T’s WarnerMedia unit, according to a securities filing. The company valued the option grants at roughly $190 million on Wednesday evening, taking into account the company’s share-price volatility and potential stock appreciation over their eight-year term.
Discovery announced Tuesday it’s extended the employment contract of president and CEO David Zaslav employment contract through Dec. 31, 2027. His previous contract ran through 2023. The extension was made in connection with the definitive agreement between AT&T and Discovery Inc. to combine WarnerMedia’s entertainment, sports and news assets with Discovery to create a new standalone entertainment company. Zaslav will lead the proposed new company. Above, AT&T CEO John Stankey (l) and Zaslav at Monday’s press conference announcing the deal.
“We are the best media company in the world” says the CEO poised to lead the content powerhouse. The enlarged Discovery-WarnerMedia will have massive reach across news, sports, unscripted, lifestyle content and some of entertainment’s biggest franchises and tentpole events from the HBO and Warner Bros. imprimaturs.
Discovery CEO David Zazlav on Monday committed to the future of CNN once his company completes a merger with AT&T’s WarnerMedia. “Not only are we going to keep it,” Zaslav said in a Monday press conference with AT&T CEO John Stankey, but the new company will “lean into news.” He noted that his company already has a substantial news presence in Europe, which will be combined with CNN to create “a world leader in news.”
AT&T and Discovery Monday announced a definitive agreement to combine WarnerMedia’s premium entertainment, sports and news assets with Discovery’s leading nonfiction and international entertainment and sports businesses to create a premier, standalone global entertainment company led by Discovery CEO David Zaslav. Under the terms of the agreement, which is structured as an all-stock transaction, AT&T would receive $43 billion in a combination of cash, debt securities, and WarnerMedia’s retention of certain debt, and AT&T’s shareholders would receive stock representing 71% of the new company; Discovery shareholders would own 29% of the new company.
Like many media executives, Discovery CEO David Zaslav is not happy with Nielsen, which admitted Tuesday that it may have undercounted viewers during the pandemic. During a conversation Wednesday at MoffetNathanson’s annual media and communications summit, Zaslav blasted Nielsen’s “antiquated system of measurement,” arguing that its ratings were inaccurate even before this latest snafu.
