David Zaslav Scores $606 Million Payout From Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav may be out of a job, but he’s scoring a windfall of over $600 million from the company’s merger with Paramount Skydance. Per a Thursday SEC filing, Zaslav will receive a total of $606.1 million for shares held in the company as of the merger’s Oct. 6 closing date. The total amount includes stock options worth $381.7 million. The merger saw Paramount pay WBD stockholders $31 apiece for their shares. The David Ellison-led media giant was also on the hook for a 25 cent per share ticking fee for every day the deal wasn’t closed after Oct. 1. The latest payout comes as Zaslav has already sold around $195 million in stock, including $21.7 million worth in August, $59 million worth in July and $114 million worth in March as part of a Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement. Zaslav is also among the highest paid executives in the media industry. He scored a pay package of $165 million in 2025, which included a one-time grant of stock options tied to WBD’s initial plans to separate its studios & streaming business from its linear networks business. The plans to split the company were scrapped in favor of an $83 billion deal with Netflix for the company’s streaming and studio assets. However, Paramount would eventually submit a superior $110 billion offer for the entire company, with Netflix deciding not to match it. A WBD spokesperson noted that Zaslav more than doubled the number of employees who hold equity at the company compared to the two companies separately beforehand. More to come…