$1.1 Billion for Five Warner Bros. Execs: Who Cashed Out From Paramount Sale - The Hollywood Reporter
The sale of Warner Bros. Discovery to Paramount resulted in massive financial payouts for top executives, including over $600 million for former CEO David Zaslav. Hundreds of other employees also received equity-based bonuses from the transaction.
Why it matters
The scale of executive compensation during corporate mergers often highlights wealth disparity and corporate governance trends in the media industry.
The sale of Warner Bros. Discovery delivered a windfall for the C-suite of the company, filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show.
Former WBD CEO David Zaslav sold shares worth more than $224 million in WBD on conjunction with the acquisition by Paramount, while options that were in the money netted him an additional $381 million or so. That totals over $600 million, not including any cash severance, a tax benefit or other perquisites.
But his top four deputies also sold their shares in the sale, netting more than $500 million between them.
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