David Zaslav is set to receive one hell of a golden parachute as he jumps out of the Warner Bros. Discovery plane.
As of Tuesday, the former Warner Bros. Discovery’s president and CEO will reportedly receive a total of $606.1 million for shares held in the company.
This includes restricted stock units that converted into the right to receive an amount in cash. The amount was revealed in an SEC filing earlier today.
The total amount includes stock options worth $381.7 million, which is subject to withholding taxes. His proceeds are also subject to capital gains taxes.
He has sold a total of nearly $200 million worth of WBD stock since his company first made the deal with Paramount in February.
Paramount officially closed the WBD takeover deal on Tuesday, painting “A Skydance Corporation” on the Warner Bros. water tower in Burbank the same day.
At WBD’s annual shareholder meeting in June, a majority of shareholders ineffectually voted against golden-parachute packages for Zaslav and other named executives as well as their 2025 compensation plans.
In four years, Zaslav reduced WBD’s heavy debt load from $53 billion to $33.1 billion as of June. Now that Skydance has taken over, the joint Paramount-Warners entity faces a jaw-dropping $80 billion in debt.
Source: Variety
