Whats David Zaslav up now after WBD sale? Its the latest parlor game in media circles
Where is Zas and what is he doing next?Those two questions have become maybe the biggest parlor game in media circles these days now that David “Zas” Zaslav is no longer the CEO of Warner Bros Discovery, so I thought I would snoop around.The short answer: While I can tell you approximately where he’s been hanging out lately, the fact is that not even Zas knows what his next gig will be.That’s partly because he now has what they call in the old neighborhood “f–k you money,” meaning he can, if he wants, sit around and watch the seasons change.His $81 billion sale of WBD took some time.
A months-long bidding war was followed by legal challenges and finally a settlement with lefty state AGs who concocted an antitrust case out of the WBD sale to Paramount.Eventually, cooler heads prevailed, recognizing it as a case of two companies that needed to team up to compete against tech heavyweights encroaching on their turf.The settlement cleared the way for the Ellison family and their partners at Redbird Capital to expand their presence in media, adding WBD with its marquee properties of CNN, HBO and the Warner studio on top of Paramount’s CBS, its streaming service and its own iconic studio.It also cleared the way for one of the biggest paydays in media history.
Zas is walking away, all in, with around $1 billion in total comp (vested options, other stock awards and tax benefits) for his four-plus year tenure at WBD. I have made the case he’s worth every dime.WBD was floundering from the moment he got there until relatively recently.
It was created through the combination of Discovery and the old Warner Media and loaded with debt and disparate properties.He fixed the infrastructure, slashed debt and last summer started a bidding war that took the stock to $31 from around $7.He’s not the only one who did well; as this column has also pointed out.
He pushed stock ownership throughout WBD not just his top people, making plenty of newly minted millionaire...