Orchestrating around $4 billion in synergy cuts at the newly consolidated Warner Bros. Discovery last year, company CEO David Zaslav saw his own 2022 compensation drop from more than $246 million the previous year to just $39.3 million.
In documents filed by WBD Wednesday to the SEC, the company said that Zaslav received $3.1 million in executive compensation, $13.4 million in stock-related awards, $21.8 million in incentive bonuses and $925,489 in "all other" compensation.
In 2021, prior to Discovery's merger with the erstwhile WarnerMedia, Zaslav received stock compensation of $203 million.
WBD also disclosed 2022 compensation for CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels ($13.5 million), global streaming chief JB Perrette ($14.1 million), Chief Revenue and Strategy Officer Bruce Campbell ($13.7 million) and President of International Gerhard Zeiler ($10.3 million).
And the good times didn't end for these financially flush fellows in 2022.
Earlier this month, the WBD board has also granted $11.75 million of one-time performance-based restricted stock units to some of the company’s officers, as well as to other executives responsible for cash-flow management, debt reduction and synergy achievement, according to another SEC filing.
Campbell, Wiedenfels, Perette and Zeiler, along with Adria Alpert Romm, chief people and culture offer, and Savalle Sims, executive VP and general counsel, each get performance-based stock units initially worth between $1 million and $2 million.
Meanwhile, under his original employment agreement, Zaslav was supposed to get performance-based restricted stock worth $12 million. With the new incentives the awards are multiplied, and Zaslav could receive twice the number of shares.
Zaslav will now also receive an additional award of performance-based restricted stock units in each of 2023, 2024 and 2025 with an initial value of $11.5 million.
