Cometh the hour, cometh the payout. Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Chief Executive David Zaslav stands to pocket $800 million in severance and other payments after rival Paramount PSKY acquires the media company, Warner said in a securities filing.
The Wall Street Journal reports the specified sum includes cash and payments for options and restricted stockholdings, as well as a newly adopted tax reimbursement for Zaslav, Warner WBD revealed in a securities disclosure filed late Monday as seen by the outlet.
The total doesn’t include more than $20 million he is likely to get for shares he owns outright.
Zaslav, who is one of the best-paid executives in Hollywood, has already made $113m after selling shares in WBD this month.
The Guardian reports other executives in line for handsome payouts include JB Perrette, the head of WBD’s global streaming and games business, who could receive $142 million in cash severance and equity.
Oprah Winfrey embraces Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav onstage during the Warner Bros. Pictures presentation at CinemaCon 2023, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) at Caesars Palace, Tuesday, April 25, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Gunnar Wiedenfels, WBD’s chief financial officer, is in line to bank some $120 million.
The filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission also reveal WBD’s financial advisers have received bumper payments, with Allen & Co expected to get as much as $100 million and JP Morgan about $90 million.
In the filing, WBD said these payouts were “estimates based on multiple assumptions” and the actual amounts “may materially differ.”
This is not the first time Zaslav has been in line for a substantial payout.
As Breitbart News reported, for 2023, Zaslav’s compensation totaled $49.7 million, up 26.5 percent from the previous year when he received $39.3 million.
Under his tenure, the company has carried out several rounds of brutal layoffs stretching from late 2022 into 2024.
Zaslav has become an unpopular figure among movie fans after he embarked on a ruthless round of content culling on HBO Max and the company’s other streaming services in a bid to save more money.
He has also shelved completed movies before their releases, including Batgirl and Coyote vs. Acme — presumably to use them as tax write-offs.
His decision to lay off TCM staffers was also met with outrage from cinephiles.
