Here’s why Warner CEO David Zaslav may actually – Business News
Is David Zaslav happier in regards to the 11 Oscars that Warner Bros. received this week, or the $800 million payout he stands to make within the sale of its mum or dad company? Shrewd Hollywood insiders assume they know the reply, however the reality is that Zaslav ought to be congratulated for each and a lot else.
During Sunday night time’s gorgeous Oscars sweep, insiders inform On The Money that the mercurial CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery was barraging associates with jubilant textual content messages because the victories piled up, together with Best Picture for “One Battle After Another” and Michael B. Jordan’s win for Best Actor in “Sinners.”
The essential context right here is that Zaslav – a veteran dealmaker who was mentored by Jack Welch at GE in addition to cable TV magnate John Malone – had long been written off in Tinseltown as a bean counter who merely didn’t get the film business.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav noticed his studio decide up 11 Oscars. Jack Forbes / NY Post Design
Suffice it to say these days are over, and nevertheless grudgingly, the inventive sorts can’t help however acknowledge what Zaslav has completed at WBD in much less than 4 years.
Not long after AT&T offloaded its Warner Media subsidiary to Discovery in April 2022 – the deal that made Zaslav CEO of each companies – WBD appeared prefer it risked changing into a penny stock, with a $5 deal with and a mountain of debt. The merger had been organized by Malone and Zaslav and for the subsequent three years or so, most traders wished it had by no means occurred.
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By early 2025, nevertheless, Wall Street started to understand Zaslav’s slashing of billions off his stability sheet as he made unpopular choices like canceling “Batgirl” – a film with no actual mainstream viewers. It helped that by mid summer time, HBO Max, his streaming service, lastly settled on a title with HBO in it and have become the third-largest streamer. It additionally helped that final summer time Warner Bros. started churning out hits.
By August of final yr, shares of WBD had been up to round $12 – up more than 50% from the earlier 12 months. That was a full month earlier than the bidding battle for his company started – sending its stock on a six-month tear that boosted its price almost 160%.
Zaslav was mentored by cable TV magnate John Malone. Getty Images
WBD’s stock went into overdrive after David Ellison – the Hollywood producer who had simply scooped up Paramount with the help of his dad Larry Ellison, the Oracle co-founder – got here calling. But Zas, as he’s recognized within the C-suite, didn’t welcome the offer and as an alternative launched a bidding battle, as On The Money first reported.
The drama finally pitted streaming giant Netflix towards Ellison’s Paramount Skydance, however when it was first reported by On The Money that Zas was searching for a remaining price at $30 a share, tons of laughter was heard – not solely in deal rooms, but in addition on Wall Street trading desks betting on the end result.
As you recognize in case you’re a common reader, Paramount Skydance received the duel with a remaining price of $31 a share, or $80.6 billion – for a stock that had been languishing close to penny ranges.
David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance received the duel for Warner Bros. Discovery. Getty Images
Lots will likely be written by media sorts that Zas isn’t definitely worth the all-in $800 million he might obtain in shares, choices, tax advantages and different funds if this deal closes, as anticipated by the third quarter of this yr. But I don’t hear the caterwauling from traders, nor from his fellow CEOs.
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Zas, I’m advised, made a latest look on the guide occasion of former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein on the Crane Club in NYC, attended by the likes of present Goldman boss David Solomon, Henry Kravis of KKR fame and Blackstone’s Steve Schwarzman.
Blankfein’s extremely readable memoir “Streetwise” (which On The Money is combing via now) was entrance and heart, however Zaslav’s negotiation expertise had been additionally a main source of chatter and celebration at an occasion attended by some of the best dealmakers within the business, my sources say.
