David Zaslav to Receive Estimated $887 Million in Compensation Related to Warner Bros.-Paramount Merger

That’s quite a golden parachute: David Zaslav is set to receive an estimated $887 million in compensation with the closing of Paramount Skydance‘s deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery.

On Monday, WBD disclosed the estimated amounts of compensation for each of WBD’s named executive officers related to Paramount’s $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, also referred to as “golden parachute” compensation.

Zaslav, the president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, is set to receive $34.2 million in cash severance; $517.2 million in equity in the combined company; $335.4 million in tax reimbursements; and $44,195 in continued health coverage reimbursement benefits, per a WBD filing with the SEC.

The tax reimbursement amount for Zaslav represents an estimate of the aggregate payment that he could receive under his tax reimbursement agreement with WBD. The $335.4 million estimate was calculated assuming the effective time occurred on March 11, 2026; under IRS rules, the actual amount will “significantly decline with the passage of time.” For example, based on current estimates from WBD’s outside tax advisers, if the Paramount-WBD closing were to occur in 2027, no tax reimbursement payment would be expected to be made to Zaslav.

Last month, Zaslav sold $114 million worth of WBD stock after Paramount won the bidding war for the company.

WBD said the amounts quantified in the section outlining the golden parachute comp “are estimates based on multiple assumptions” and that “the actual amounts, if any, that may be paid or become payable to directors and executive officers may materially differ from such estimates.”