Just a few weeks ago, David Zaslav was offered a co-CEO gig by David Ellison in a Paramount-owned Warner Bros Discovery. Then Netflix swooped in and sealed an $83B deal for WB’s streaming and studio holdings before Ellison came roaring back with a $108 billion hostile tender offer for all of WBD, possibly triggering a new bidding war.
Amid fireworks over who ultimately will control the home of HBO, Zaslav’s future looks increasingly uncertain.
With a lot of bad blood and sleight of hand accusations now brewing between him and Ellison, it’s unlikely the co-CEO and co-chairman role that the Paramount Skydance boss offered the Zaslav on November 24 is still in the mix as Paramount aims to unseat the giant streamer. Paramount had no comment Wednesday when contacted by Deadline.
There was a similar silence down on Sunset at Netflix. Reps for the Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters-led streamer did not respond to Deadline’s request for comment on Zaslav’s role in a NetBros.
With the Netflix deal estimated to take 12 to 18 months to close, WBD will move ahead with a previously planned split of the company into Warner Bros. (streaming and studios) and Discovery Global (linear television). Zaslav will stay remain as WBD CEO until the split and then, also as planned, become chief executive of Warner Bros., holding that job until the Netflix acquisition is complete.
After that?
Sources close to the situation tell Deadline that “future management roles” for Zaslav within Netflix “haven’t been discussed.”
To at least one industry player, what may or may not have been discussed is borderline irrelevant.
“David may have overplayed his last card,” a C-Suite regular told Deadline of the WBD CEO and a desire to stick around. Predicting a Zas-led caretaker regime at WBD until the deal for either bidder closes and all the regulatory boxes are checked, the source sees a flush Zaslav then retreating to his Beverly Hills estate of Robert Evans’ old home, and eventually the East Coast.
“The compensation packages are so excessive, even by the standards of this town,” the source added of the multi-million dollar payouts and options the spotlight-loving Zaslav has had WBD board approve since the WarnerMedia and Discovery merger in 2022. “More layoffs are coming no matter who owns Warner Bros, so it’s a terrible look even if the stock is up,” the C-Suiter noted of Zas’s payout. “Plus, he (Zaslav) likes to throw his weight around, and no matter if Netflix or Paramount win in the end, no one can run a studio with someone like that.
Corporate debt aside, Zaslav made over $50 million in 2024 in total compensation. Add to that, the revamped contract Zas inked earlier this year includes stock options that could exceed $425 million, and much more depending how high Paramount and Netflix are willing to go in their respective offers to win Warner Bros.
Seeking to get down the debt of that 2022 merger, the last three years has seen deep job cuts at WBD, as well as a harsh stock drop. Even with a stellar box office this year with Superman, Sinners, Weapons and Minecraft, that legacy debt of around $40 billion left Zaslav and the board no choice pre-sale but to eat crow, follow the lead of Comcast and plan a corporate split for 2026. That split would have seen a Zas-run WB on one side and a CNN and a new and independent Discovery Global, housing CNN and other cable channels, to be run by WBD’s current CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels.
From left: Paramount’s David Ellison and Netflix’s Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters
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As that process moved forward, Paramount made three consecutive bids for all of WBD until the company opted to open up the process to other bidders. Even while Zaslav has been widely pummeled for his pay, for his occasional tone deafness, and various strategic missteps, to his credit and shareholders’ wallets, he has created a robust auction process for WBD with three bidders, Paramount, Netflix and Comcast.
In total, as outlined to some degree in a letter sent from Ellison to WBD shareholders today, Paramount has made six offers, all rebuffed.
After Paramount went hostile once the Netflix bid had taken the golden ring, the WBD board on December 8 said it “will carefully review and consider Paramount Skydance’s offer in accordance with the terms of Warner Bros. Discovery’s agreement with Netflix.” The board promised to make its recommendation public “within 10 business days.”
Calling the Ellisons’ big new bid of earlier this week “entirely expected,” Netflix’s Sarandos later on December 8 said: “We have a deal done, and we are incredibly happy with the deal.”
WBD has another eight days to respond to Paramount’s all-cash, $30-a-share offer for the entire company.
Raising eyebrows in D.C. and L.A., that offer includes over $24 billion in equity funding from the Public Investment Fund (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), L’imad Holding Company PJSC (Abu Dhabi), Qatar Investment Authority (Qatar) and Affinity Partners, the Saudi-backed investment fund of Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. According to Paramount’s SEC filings, it’s all backstopped by David Ellison’s father, Larry Ellison, and Paramount pinky promises the Middle East funds and Affinity won’t have governance roles.
Like most things in American public life nowadays, the easily flattered Trump, pal to both Larry Ellison and his son, and now Sarandos, hovers in the background of all this — with regulatory powers that could determine the victor.
Regardless what Zaslav’s future at post-merger WBD is, a number of well-positioned sources predict he will stick it out in Tinseltown.
The Burbank-based executive, long been one of the highest paid in Hollywood, will have options.
“He’s going to have a lot of money, he’s got a lot of strong relationships and he likes being in the mix,” one studio insider said of 65-year-old Zas’s next act. “Executives come and go, that’s the town,” he continues. “Maybe he’ll set up his own shop, produce, sit on boards, and philanthropy, like (David) Geffen.”
Jill Goldsmith contributed to this report
