David Zaslav Sells to Cover $9.5M in Warner Bros. Discovery Shares for Tax Purposes

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has some shares in the studio for tax purposes.

The mogul has had approximately $9.5 million in the company’s stock at $11.40 per-share withheld, with the disposal done for tax purposes, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Zaslav’s move was part of required tax withholding, says a Warner Bros. Discovery source.

The studio head did a similar-sized sale to cover WBD shares on Jan. 10, 2023, again for tax purposes.

The Jan. 8, 2024 transaction came ahead of shares in WBD closing down 60 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $10.97 on Wednesday.

Zaslav’s withholding of shares in the studio behind HBO, CNN and the Max streaming service also comes as WBD is in the spotlight amid after he and Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish held a meeting in December to discuss a possible merger between the two companies.

Stock sales or purchases by Zaslav also impact the studio head’s overall compensation package, which is heavily dependent on performance stock options based on how WBD generates cash and reduces its overall debt load.

The value of Zaslav’s compensation package for 2022, which saw the Discovery-WarnerMedia merger close in April, hit $27.2 million, according to a company regulatory filing. In 2021, then-Discovery CEO Zaslav received a pay package worth $69.6 million that was tied to the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery.

That was a jump compared with $37.7 million in 2020 and $45.8 million in 2019 and was driven by a May 2021 employment agreement that is set to keep Zaslav at the company through the end of 2027, when his overall compensation will be dependent on shares in WBD rising higher from their current range.

WBD has seen its stock price continuing to trade well below highs in the early days of the streaming wars as the studio nears profitability in streaming, albeit at the hands of deep cost-cutting.