Warner Bros boss David Zaslav is in line for a payday of up to £750million following the sale of the studio to Hollywood rival Paramount.
The chief executive is set for a blockbuster windfall after Paramount reigned supreme in a battle with streaming giant Netflix to buy the studio.
Zaslav could receive £25.6million in cash severance payments, £86.8million in vested stock and £387.5m in unvested share awards once the deal is complete, a filing from Warner Bros has revealed.
He is also in line to receive tax reimbursements of up to £251million – but the amount will decrease with time, and he won’t receive any of it if the sale is delayed until 2027. Paramount expects the deal to be completed in the third quarter of 2026.
The windfall will raise eyebrows, especially as many in the film industry are worried the takeover could result in job losses.
Warner Bros boss David Zaslav at the Oscars awards ceremony this weekend.
Before Paramount triumphed with a winning bid in the Hollywood battle last month, Warner had rejected eight previous offers from the studio.
It had appeared that Netflix was in prime position to succeed with its own offer for around £60million for part of the business – but then Netflix said it would not match Paramount’s latest bid.
Warner’s board then declared Paramount’s to be the ‘superior offer’ at the end of February.
It comes after Warner Bros’ titles, including Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Teyana Taylor, plus Sinners, starring Michael B. Jordan and Hailee Steinfeld, won at the Oscars over the weekend.
The merger will take place under the steer of Paramount boss and Donald Trump ally David Ellison.
Backed by his father, Larry Ellison, the Oracle technology billionaire, who is among the richest men in the world, David has already created a Hollywood powerhouse by merging Skydance and Paramount in a £22bn deal in 2024.
Paramount’s bid for Warner covers the whole business, meaning the Ellisons will control some of the biggest US news companies, including CBS News and CNN, as well as the HBO cable network.
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