Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav‘s pay package topped $39 million in 2022, down considerably from the staggering figure he hit in the year prior, thanks to a massive $203 million stock option.
In a Wednesday Securities and Exchange Commission filing, WBD stated that president and CEO Zaslav’s exec 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 this major dip is an unprecedented $203 million stock option grant that inflated his total 2021 compensation package to a staggering $246.6 million. (To give you a more reasonable idea of what Zaslav’s pay has been in recent years, his 2020 haul was a mere $37.7 million.)
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That stock option grant — which Zaslav will not see any liquidity from for years, and only in success — came just ahead of Zaslav taking over a much larger company, as the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery was nearing completion in April 2022. In 2021, Zaslav received another $13.1 million in stock awards, in addition to $22 million in other compensation, on top of a $4.4 million bonus.
Additionally disclosed by WBD Wednesday were the 2022 compensations for other top execs, including CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels ($13.5 million vs. $11.3 million in 2021), chief revenue and strategy officer Bruce Campbell ($13.7 million vs. $12.6 million), CEO and president of global streaming and games JB Perrette ($14.1 million vs. $13.4 million) and international president Gerhard Zeiler ($10.3 million in 2022, his first annual pay period with the company.)
Warner Bros. Discovery has been under extreme pressure to lower its debt, and the company has cut staffing levels, scuttled major plans like the CNN+ streaming service and taken $3.5 billion in content writedowns.
Earlier this month, the owner of HBO, Discovery Channel and Food Network said it would begin paying out new rewards to Zaslav, six senior staffers and an unspecified group of others if they could meet certain goals of new generation of free cash flow.
“The changes to the Warner Bros. Discovery executive compensation program are designed to further incentivize Company employees, including members of its leadership team and others whose efforts are critical to achieving the key near-term financial objectives of increased free cash flow and reduced leverage,” said WBD board chairman Samuel A. Di Piazza, Jr. in a prepared statement. “The WBD board is confident that these additional incentives offer a more competitive package against the backdrop of ongoing industry-wide transformation and economic headwinds, and better position the company to advance core drivers of shareholder value.”
