David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, took home $165 million in his 2025 pay package.  This massive figure more than tripled his 2024 pay of $51.9 million and was meant to act as a bonus when the company split.  Although this never happened, the decision was made not to amend the agreement further and rather just give Zaslav this massive payday.

While a split hasn’t happened yet, a merger with Paramount is currently pending, and if and when it does become a reality, Zaslav will likely see another serious payout.  The decision to abandon separation and instead opt for a merger with Paramount impacted a variety of compensation and incentives within various contracts at WBD.  A proxy from WBD made a statement that was highlighted by Deadline.

It noted WBD’s surging stock as the board and management evaluated strategic options leading to the plan to split, followed by a sale process and culminating in $31-a-share cash merger agreement with Paramount. There was “a 164% increase in our stock price from the beginning of 2025 to the time of signing the merger agreement with Paramount, and consideration of $31.00 per share (plus any applicable ticking fee) from Paramount, representing a 147% premium to WBD’s unaffected closing stock price of $12.54 on September 10, 2025.

WBD stock is in a great place considering where the price was just a year ago.  The stock is currently trading at $27, slightly below the 52-week high of $30, but more than triple the low in the same span of $8.  Paramount and WBD expect the merger to finalize in the third quarter, but it is yet to be seen if they’ll obtain all of the necessary regulatory approvals or if there will be maneuvers in the entertainment industry with the intent of blocking the deal.  Deadline reports that the rest of Zaslav’s 2025 compensation includes, “…of $3 million, stock awards valued at $22.6 million, non-equity incentive plan compensation (cash bonus) of $25.7 million, and “other” pay of $4.1 million.”

Even though the planned split would’ve brought the massive bonus to Zaslav, the world would’ve seen the CEO’s annual compensation dip as he would’ve been commanding a smaller entity.  It’s easy to assume that the CEO is happy where things currently stand because if the merger goes through, he is set to see an $886 million payday.  $517 million would come through equity, $34 million in cash as severance pay, $44 million in perquisites, and $334 million would come to him as a tax reimbursement.  While the majority of shareholders did vote to approve the merger, they also voted heavily against the proposed “golden parachute” for Zaslav, but this is non-binding.  Proxies also revealed the pay for the top 5 executives at WBD.

CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels’ 2025 compensation was about flat at $17 million. Chief Revenue and Strategy Officer Bruce Campbell’s $22.3 million package was up from $19.8 million. Jean-Briac Perette’s was $22.5 million, up from $19.7 million. Chief Legal Officer Priya Aiyar, who joined WBD in February of 2025, saw total pay of $23.3 million.

Wiedenfel’s also re-upped at the studio, signing a contract that will keep him in place until April 2028.  Stay here with us at MXDWN for any future updates on the WBD and Paramount merger.