All posts tagged: david zaslav

David Zaslav 2025 Pay Package Revealed Ahead of Paramount Deal

David Zaslav 2025 Pay Package Revealed Ahead of Paramount Deal

Published by Daniella Wilson

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav saw his compensation package soar to $165 million in 2025, tripling the pay package he received in 2024. The package was driven by option awards that were part of a revised employment contract the executive inked last year, which incentivized him to pursue a strategic review for the company, and ultimately which resulted in WBD’s sale to Netflix, and then to Paramount. His base salary remained the same at $3 million, his stock awards were consistent at $22.6 million, his non-equity incentive comp rose slightly to $25.7 million, and his other compensation (driven by security and private jet use) rose to $4 million, but it was the $109.6 million in option awards that really drove the growth. Zaslav had a compensation package valued at $51.9 million in 2024, driven by higher non-equity incentive plan pay of $23.9 million and stock awards of $23.1 million. 2025 could very well end up being Zaslav’s last full year atop the entertainment giant, which has inked a deal to sell itself to David …

David Zaslav 2025 Pay Package Revealed Ahead of Paramount Deal

David Zaslav Sells $114 Million in Warner Bros Stock Ahead of Sale

Published by Daniella Wilson

Following nearly a year of dealmaking, a window for top Warner Bros. Discovery executives to sell their stock opened up after the company reported its last quarterly earnings. SEC filings show that most of those top execs, including CEO David Zaslav, took advantage of it. Zaslav filed to sell more than four million shares in the company, with a value of just over $114 million, on Tuesday. Other executives, including CFO Gunnar Weidenfels, streaming chief JB Perrette, chief revenue and strategy officer Bruce Campbell, and international chief Gerhard Zeiler also filed to sell shares worth millions, per forms filed with the SEC Tuesday. The executives won’t receive all of the proceeds, as a portion will be held for tax purposes, the filings indicate. The sales came as WBD now has a signed deal to sell itself in a $111 billion deal to Paramount Skydance, for $31 per share. A year ago, WBD shares were trading at $11 per share. So why the sell-off? WBD has been engaged in a state of dealmaking since last June, …

Warner Bros. Discovery Lost 2 Million in the Final Quarter of 2025

Warner Bros. Discovery Lost $252 Million in the Final Quarter of 2025

Published by Daniella Wilson

Warner Bros. Discovery reported its fourth quarter 2025 results on Thursday morning, posting total revenue of $9.46 billion and 131.6 million global streaming subscribers. WBD lost $252 million in Q4; adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) was $2.216 billion. Overall revenue was down 6 percent from the fourth quarter last year, though the number ought to satisfy Wall Street from an expectations POV. But no one likes an unprofitable company. Streaming subs rose by 3.5 million from October through December. Advertising revenues dropped 9 percent, with the loss of the NBA on Turner costing WBD about half that. The company’s studio revenues decreased 13 percent vs. the comparable quarter in 2024, mostly due to lower content sales. Global linear networks revenue dropped 12 percent. In the prior quarter, WBD posted a net loss of $148 million on revenue of $9 billion. Of course, everything was different back then. Netflix buying WBD was not a (public) thing, and there were only initial reports of Paramount‘s interest. In the summer, Paramount was still in …

Warner Bros. Discovery Just Emphatically Rejected Paramount. Will David Ellison Take No for an Answer?

Warner Bros. Discovery Just Emphatically Rejected Paramount. Will David Ellison Take No for an Answer?

Published by Sam Flores

Not so fast, David Ellison. On Wednesday, January 7, the Warner Bros. Discovery board advised its shareholders to reject a hostile takeover bid from Paramount Skydance for the company, citing uncertainties regarding the debt financing tied to Paramount’s offer, while maintaining that Netflix’s offer to buy the company is the superior offer. The board’s recommendation was unanimous—a tough break for Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, who has spent months publicly angling to swallow up WBD following his headline-grabbing takeover of Paramount. “Paramount’s offer continues to provide insufficient value, including terms such as an extraordinary amount of debt financing that create risks to close and lack of protections for our shareholders if a transaction is not completed,” said Samuel A. Di Piazza Jr., chair of the WBD board of directors, in a press release. “Our binding agreement with Netflix will offer superior value at greater levels of certainty, without the significant risks and costs Paramount’s offer would impose on our shareholders.” In December of 2025, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos announced that it had entered a definitive …

Chelsea Handler Kicks Off Show

Chelsea Handler Kicks Off Show

Published by Daniella Wilson

Chelsea Handler kicked off the 2026 awards season by hosting the 31st Critics Choice Awards Sunday night in Santa Monica. The comedian paid tribute to to the late Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Reiner. “Everyone in this room knows that the nicest guy in Hollywood was Rob Reiner,” Handler said to the crowd towards the end of her monologue. “Anyone who ever spent time with Rob Reiner knows that the minute that you met him, he felt like an old friend,” she continued. “When you were in a conversation with him, he was present, he was focused, and he was funny.” Handler noted that both Rob and Michele Reiner “were tireless” in their devotion to causes that all revolved around decency and that everyone should be looking out for one another. Handler told the crowd, “I think we can all agree that we definitely need more of that, so let’s use tonight as a reminder of that decency and as a reminder of everything Rob and Michele represented and fought so hard for.” While …