David Zaslav is no longer the chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery, and the open question in media circles is simple: what does a man do after walking away with roughly $1 billion?
The sale of WBD, valued at $81 billion, closed after a months-long bidding war, legal challenges, and an eventual settlement with Democratic state attorneys general who had pursued an antitrust case against the deal with Paramount. The objections ultimately gave way to a broader recognition that two legacy media companies needed scale to compete against tech giants moving into their territory.
The settlement cleared the way for the Ellison family and their partners at Redbird Capital to combine WBD’s marquee assets — CNN, HBO, and the Warner studio — with Paramount’s CBS, its streaming operation, and its own film studio.
For Zaslav, it also cleared the way for one of the largest individual paydays in media history. Between vested options, other stock awards, and tax benefits, his total compensation for a little more than four years running WBD comes to around $1 billion.
Whatever one thinks of that number, the turnaround is hard to dispute. WBD was created out of the merger of Discovery and the old Warner Media, and it launched heavily indebted and stitched together from mismatched parts. Zaslav cut debt, reorganized the business, and last summer set off a bidding war that sent the stock from roughly $7 to $31 a share. Along the way, he extended stock ownership broadly across the company rather than confining it to a handful of executives, creating a number of new millionaires among the rank and file.
Off the Grid, for Now
Despite the payday and the record, the 66-year-old Brooklyn native is in no apparent hurry to take a new job. Asked recently about his next move, Zaslav offered a short answer: “Still roping cattle, off the grid.”
He is, by multiple accounts, spending time biking with family in Montana. But people who know him describe a man who has never truly been able to switch off, and who is already thinking about a second act even if he hasn’t settled on what it looks like.
One possibility floated by someone close to him: a partnership with longtime mentor John Malone, the cable industry pioneer, to “do deals.” Zaslav has also been mentioned as a potential author, with a book drawing on his decades in media and on Wall Street, including time learning from Jack Welch while at NBCUniversal under General Electric’s ownership.
He could also simply do nothing for a while — he has, after all, the financial freedom to choose. Friends say he has lately talked about needing more hobbies outside of running companies and making deals. When he’s back in New York, that typically means breakfast at Barney Greengrass on the Upper West Side, where his regular company includes former Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein, Hollywood producer David Geffen, and media executive Barry Diller.
For now, those close to him say only that he has “flexibility to do almost anything.” What he actually does with it remains, for the moment, an open question.
