Boss of Warner Bros Discovery. He started running Discovery, a constellation of TV channels, in 2006. Bryan Cranston, the "Breaking Bad" star, has described him as "so boring".
Zaslav orchestrated the tie-up between Warner Bros and Discovery in 2022. The grand promises made at the time went largely unfulfilled. The combined company's streaming service (renamed from HBO Max to Max and back to HBO Max) remained dwarfed by Netflix. Warner had just two profitable quarters since the deal closed, leaving its debt-laden balance-sheet in a precarious state. Shareholders rejected Zaslav's $52m pay package in a "say on pay" vote in 2025.
In February 2026 Paramount Skydance grasped Warner Bros Discovery after months of wrangling. Warner shareholders were due to vote on the deal on April 23rd 2026. Paramount offered $31 per share, more than three times their value a year earlier.
If David Ellison, Paramount's boss, fires Zaslav after the deal closes, Zaslav will receive $34m in severance pay. Whatever happens, even if he stays on, Zaslav will collect more than $500m from stock awards and options that will vest on generous terms. His tax bill will also be settled by his employer, bringing the total bounty to more than $800m—perhaps the largest golden parachute in corporate history. Glass Lewis, a proxy adviser, said the tax arrangements should be a cause of "severe concern"; ISS, its rival, called them "problematic".
Zaslav is not the first Warner boss to become fantastically wealthy: Steve Ross earned almost $200m when Time bought the studio in 1990; Jeff Bewkes left with a $70m golden parachute when AT&T bought Time Warner in 2018.
Acquaintance, n: A person whom we know well enough to borrow from but not well enough to lend to. A degree of friendship called slight when the object is poor or obscure, and intimate when he is rich or famous.