- Warner Bros. CEO Discovery Inc. David Zaslav earned $49.7 million in 2023.
- Zaslav’s compensation has increased despite actors’ and writers’ strikes, surpassing his 2022 earnings.
- Warner Bros. posted losses for the year despite the increase in Zaslav’s compensation.
In a year when thousands of writers and actors were fighting for higher salaries, one media mogul won big.
Warner Bros. CEO Discovery Inc.’s David Zaslav earned compensation worth $49.7 million in 2023, according to a regulatory filing released Friday.
Despite the actors’ and writers’ strikes which lasted almost 4 and 5 months respectively, Zaslav’s salary for the year increased.
In 2023, his total compensation increased by 26.5% compared to the previous year. It included $3 million in base salary, combined with more than $23 million in stock and a $22 million cash bonus, as well as $1.6 in additional compensation, according to the filing.
But Zaslav’s compensation in 2022 and 2023 remains modest compared to what he earned in 2021, when he led Discovery Inc. before its merger with WarnerMedia. That year, his compensation exceeded nearly $246.6 million.
At the same time, Warner Bros. as the company lost money for the year despite making about $1 billion more in profit than expected, thanks to costs saved from halting television and film production during the strikes, reported the Wall Street Journal.
Meanwhile, thousands of striking actors and writers were left without pay as they struggled to pay their bills and battled an industry that barely provided them with profits.
businessinsider
