David Zaslav, former CEO of the now-defunct Warner Bros. Discovery, saw a windfall of just over $600 million when he sold his WBD shares to Paramount for $31 each.
An SEC filing Thursday shows the Oct. 6 exchange of tranches of common stock and options as Paramount completed its acquisition of WBD and changed its name to Skydance. The merger, unveiled in February and valued at $110 billion, called for Paramount to acquire all of WBD’s outstanding shares for $31. Zaslav’s stock options vested immediately after the transaction closed.
WBD executives and board members are required to record stock sales and the numbers are high. Zaslav and the Warner board engaged in tough negotiations, rejecting a series of buyout offers from Paramount CEO David Ellison that started at $18 a share in cash, with the offer propelled ever higher by a determined Ellison.
Paramount also offered other sweeteners, including a ticking fee of about $7 million per day that would be distributed to WBD shareholders and would begin October 1 if the deal had not closed (Paramount had to pay through Tuesday), and Larry Ellison supported all equity financing.
Zaslav has long been among the highest-paid CEOs in media, and in recent years, across all sectors. His package also includes a $34.2 million cash bonus, $44.2 million in benefits and an unspecified amount for a tax refund. The WBD equity payment cash amount announced today is higher than the $517 million originally anticipated.
A company spokesperson noted that Zaslav has doubled the number of WBD employees owning shares in the combined Discovery and Warner Media to about half of the total workforce, so they also benefit from the Paramount buyout.
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