David Zaslav saw his total compensation package last year jump by more than $10 million to $49.7 million in 2023 — with Warner Bros. Discovery awarding him a base salary of $3 million, plus $23 million in stock awards, and non-equity incentive plan compensation (a cash bonus) of $22 million.
It’s the second rather princely CEO package in as many days in an industry known for them as Netflix yesterday unveiled a similarly sized package co-CEO Ted Sarandos.
Zaslav, however, has for years been the poster child of high CEO pay, with a hard to swallow 2021 package of nearly $247 million, swelled by $203 million worth of option awards. That number — and the others — were plastered on posters last spring as the writers guild’ labor talks got heated. CEO pay remained a rallying cry. It might again with a new set of labor talks underway and an overall contraction in the industry that’s causing pain above and below the line.
Annual pay for a company’s top five highest-paid executives is listed in the annual proxy statement filed with the SEC — with a look behind he numbers presented by the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors.
Among the other execs listed: JB Perrette, head of global streaming and games, saw a package worth $20 million for 2023; chief revenue and strategy officer Bruce Campbell was at $18.3 million; CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels, $17 million; and Gerhard Zeiler, president of International, $13.3 million.
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