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Warner Bros. CEO could get $667m if Paramount deal closes
Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. CEO David Zaslav could receive more than US$667.2 million if the company is sold to Paramount Skydance Corp..
The payout includes US$34.2 million in cash severance, vested stock awards, and share awards tied to the deal.
Zaslav sold US$113 million of Warner Bros. Discovery shares earlier this month. He led the 2022 merger of Discovery Inc. with AT&T Inc.’s WarnerMedia.
Warner Bros. Discovery shares have declined amid weakness in cable TV.
The board accepted a US$110 billion offer from Paramount Skydance Corp. that would buy the whole company, including debt.
The deal still requires regulatory and shareholder approval.
🔗 Source: Bloomberg
🧠 Food for thought
Implications, context, and why it matters.
Shareholder discontent started before the payout became public
- Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders had already voted to reject the 2024 compensation packages for CEO David Zaslav and other top executives before news of the potential payout surfaced 1.
- The non-binding advisory measure drew more than 1 billion votes against the pay plans 1.
- The 2024 package awarded Zaslav US$51.9 million 1.
- The pay structure set a CEO-to-median-employee ratio of 398-to-1, and that backdrop matters since the US$110 billion Paramount Skydance Corp. deal still needs a binding vote from those same shareholders for approval 1 2.
The US$110 billion price tag relies on debt and cost cuts
- The acquisition values Warner Bros. Discovery at an enterprise value of US$110 billion, which includes taking on its debt load 2.
- Paramount Skydance Corp. lined up US$54 billion in debt commitments plus US$47 billion in equity from backers such as the Ellison Family and RedBird Capital 2.
- The financial case leans on more than US$6 billion in synergies, which means cost savings from combining the two companies 2.
- Hitting that target would likely mean broad reductions across the merged business through shared streaming technology, a smaller real estate footprint, and simpler operations, with potential job losses across the media industry 2.
