Former Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav wasn’t the only one who scored big from the merger with Paramount: he and his top four lieutenants netted a combined $1.1 billion in stock compensation.
Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels, Chief Revenue Officer Bruce Campbell, streaming and games chief JB Perrette and WBD International President Gerhard Zeiler received a combined windfall of more than $500 million tied to the closing of the company’s merger with Paramount Skydance.
Meanwhile, a WBD spokesperson told TheWrap that Zaslav more than doubled the number of employees who hold equity at the company. Nearly half of the company’s 35,500 total employees had equity in the company as of this week’s merger close, up from about 8,500 in 2022.
About 500 employees are sitting on stock worth over $1 million each from the deal, while around 1,000 employees got appreciated stock worth $500,000 apiece.
The sheer number of participants who benefited from the $110 billion takeover by Paramount, now known as Skydance, is unusual but fitting given the size of the overall deal.
Keep in mind the figures are just for stock compensation tied to the merger’s closing, which was disclosed in a series of Form 4 filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These windfalls are also subject to taxes and withholdings and the stock options are vested on varying schedules. The executives also have cash and other benefits that further bump up their severance packages.
Notably, Zaslav was eligible to receive at least $551.5 million in cash, equity and benefits tied to the closing of the merger. He was also eligible to receive a tax reimbursement, but because the reimbursement fell over time, it’s unclear what the total compensation looks like. Had the merger closed on March 11, Zaslav would’ve been eligible for a $335.4 million tax reimbursement, bringing his estimated total compensation package to $887 million.
The former CEO has also previously sold around $195 million in stock between March and August as part of a Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement.
Here’s a breakdown of what everyone got:
- Zaslav received $606 million in stock compensation, which included around $224.4 million worth of shares that were sold and $381.7 million worth of stock options.
- Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels received a total of $125.74 million for WBD shares held in the company as of the merger’s Oct. 6 closing date, per a Form 4 filing with the SEC. The total amount includes around $114.2 million worth of shares that were sold and around $11.5 million worth of stock options.
- Chief Revenue Officer Bruce Campbell received $132.52 million, per his Form 4. That total includes $120 million worth of shares that were sold and around $12.5 million worth of stock options.
- Streaming and games chief JB Perrette received a total of around $154.7 million for his shares held, per his Form 4. That total includes $133.74 million worth of shares that were sold and around $20.96 million worth of stock options.
- WBD International President Gerhard Zeiler received a total of $89 million for shares held, according to his Form 4. That included $86.05 million worth of shares that were sold and around $2.95 million worth of stock options.
When including Zaslav’s $606.1 million payout, that brings the five execs’ stock and options payouts to over $1 billion combined.
In addition to the stock sold and the options, Wiedenfels, Campbell and Perrette will also receive transaction bonuses of $2.1 million, $3 million and $2.9 million, respectively, which are payable within 60 days of the merger’s closing.
Given that Perrette will remain with Skydance as TV and DTC co-chair and chief business officer, he could elect to defer his merger payout.
