Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav set to receive up to $887 million if Paramount deal closes

Jake ConleyTue, March 17, 2026 at 2:45 PM UTC

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For successfully navigating one of the hottest media M&A deals in years, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) CEO David Zaslav is set to be paid up to roughly $886.8 million if Paramount Skydance (PSKY) closes its acquisition of the storied film studio and streaming platform, according to regulatory filings published on Monday.

If the deal closes, Zaslav will receive $517.2 million in equity that would trigger if and when the sale goes through, along with roughly $34.2 million in cash and $44.2 million in benefits tied to the value of health coverage reimbursement. The Warner Bros. CEO will also get roughly $335.4 million in tax reimbursements.

Just before the end of February, Warner Bros. agreed to a full acquisition by Paramount Skydance at $31 per share in a deal valued at about $110 billion.

The announcement brought to a close a multiyear, high-stakes battle between Paramount and streaming giant Netflix (NFLX) for control of Warner Bros., during which both sides offered increasingly better terms.

Paramount stock has given up all of its gains since the announcement of the deal, trading down more than 10% on the month. On the other side of the bidding war, Netflix — whose stock popped after it announced its intention to step away from the proceedings — is up roughly 25% over the past month.

Shares in Warner Bros. have lost roughly 4% over the same period.

Under the terms of the deal, Paramount will fully acquire both the studios, streaming, and linear TV divisions of Warner Bros. Netflix, by contrast, had proposed an acquisition of Paramount's studios and streaming business in a deal worth roughly $82.7 billion at $27.75 per share, with plans to spin the linear TV assets off into a separate public company.

To get Paramount's acquisition across the table, Oracle (ORCL) founder and chief technology officer Larry Ellison — whose son, David, runs Paramount — agreed to personally backstop $40 billion in equity financing as an assurance to Warner Bros. stakeholders who expressed concern that Paramount wasn't capitalized enough to get the deal across the finish line.

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David Zaslav at the 98th Annual Oscars held at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Penske Media via Getty Images) (Michael Buckner via Getty Images)

Zaslav, who prior to running WBD was the CEO of Discovery before its merger with WarnerMedia, emerged as a central dealmaker throughout the process.

Other Warner Bros. Discovery executives are set to receive golden parachutes if the deal with Paramount closes.

Gunnar Wiedenfels, the CFO of WBD, is set to receive up to roughly $120 million in total compensation.

Chief revenue officer Bruce Campbell and streaming and games CEO Jean-Briac Perrette are set to receive up to $121.5 million and $142 million, respectively. President of international Gerhard Zeiler will receive up to $82.6 million.

Paramount has said it expects the deal to close in the third quarter of this year, according to the filing.

Jake Conley is a breaking news reporter covering US equities for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on X at @byjakeconley or email him at jake.conley@yahooinc.com.

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Source: “AOL Money”