Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
David Zaslav, the president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, is set to receive an astronomical compensation package for his role in Paramount/Skydance’s pending acquisition of the company. Paramount is set to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery for a reported price tag of $111 billion.
According to reports, Warner Bros. Discovery President/CEO David Zaslav — who already has a reported net worth of over $600 million — is set to receive a “golden parachute payment” to the tune of $887 million.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav to receive a “golden parachute payment” over $887 million in Paramount’s acquisition of WBD.
Zaslav, who has been the President and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery since 2022, is “set to receive $34.2 million in cash severance; $517.2 million in equity in the combined company; and $44,195 in continued health coverage reimbursement benefits, per a WBD filing with the SEC,” reports Variety.
“In addition, Zaslav could receive additional payments for tax reimbursements under his agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery. WBD put an estimate of $335.4 million for Zaslav’s tax reimbursement. However, that figure was calculated assuming an effective deal closing on March 11, 2026. Under IRS rules, the actual amount will ‘significantly decline with the passage of time,” Variety reported.
“For example, based on current estimates from WBD’s outside tax advisers, if the Paramount-WBD closing were to occur in 2027, no tax reimbursement payment would be expected to be made to Zaslav.”
Zaslav has long had a negative reputation among movie and TV fans given his reputation for being an anti-art bean counter, as he famously shelved an already completed Batgirl film in order to receive a tax write-off. Zaslav also pulled similar moves with the films Scoob! Holiday Haunt and Coyote vs. Acme (which has since been sold to another studio and will premiere later this year).
you do not hate billionaires enough. https://t.co/qx0Afelg9M
— matt (@mattxiv) March 16, 2026
It sounds like an exaggeration but you really do regularly come across people in LA over the last few years who will straight up tell you that it’s no longer viable to work in film/tv and they’re looking for a new career. $900 million against that backdrop is unconscionable https://t.co/W7b5ALvtoX
— Nate Rogers (@Nate_Rgrs) March 16, 2026
We used to have guillotines for stuff like this https://t.co/Bhk5HHD8rh
— Chase Mitchell (@ChaseMit) March 16, 2026
He’s also been widely mocked for having overseen the redesign over the HBO Max branding five times in just a years.
The man redesigned the HBO logo five times, the company lost 50% of its value, and he made $887 million. We might be looking at the greatest businessman to ever exist. https://t.co/PchOaP9vvr pic.twitter.com/QGULvbyDrG
— Hayden (@the_transit_guy) March 17, 2026
In addition to the film cancellations and controversial pay package, in recent years, Zaslav was famously booed off the stage at Boston University’s commencement ceremony in 2023, became the symbolic face of studio greed during the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes — with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calling him out by name at a rally — and oversaw the chaotic tenure and firing of CNN chief Chris Licht.
Furthermore, he gutted the entire leadership team at Turner Classic Movies, which prompted an emergency intervention from iconic filmmakers Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Paul Thomas Anderson, and saw the company loses its rights to broadcast the NBA.