A Warner Bros. Discovery sale would bode very well for David Zaslav — reportedly bringing him something near $500 million.
Zaslav currently has 21 million shares of the entertainment company for which he is president and CEO, all of which would be vested as soon as a prospective sale went through, according to public documents. Given the price points that companies like Paramount have put up for a WBD acquisition (one of them being $60 billion), a company merger could see Zaslav personally getting an immediate return of half a billion.
However, Warner Bros. has rejected three distinct bids from Paramount so far.
It’s a staggering number, as the CEO has already been heavily criticized for the amount of compensation he’s received in the past. In 2024, Zaslav brought in $51.9 million in total compensation, a 4.5% increase from 2023’s $49.7 million. In June, WBD shareholders rejected this compensation package in a non-binding “Say-on-Pay” vote.
Despite Paramount’s offers, there’s still a lot of red tape WBD will have to cut through before a sale can be finalized. On Thursday, the Writers Guild of America released a statement on the “disaster” that would be this merger of yet another set of major Hollywood studios.
“Merger after merger in the media industry has harmed workers, diminished competition and free speech, and wasted hundreds of billions of dollars better invested in organic growth. Combining Warner Bros. with Paramount or another major studio or streamer would be a disaster for writers, for consumers and for competition,” the Writers Guild’s statement read. “The WGAW and WGAE will work with regulators to block the merger.”
Warner Bros. Discovery did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment. Semafor was first to report the news.
