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David Michael Zaslav
David Michael Zaslav is an American media executive who currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Warner Bros. Discovery.( WBD )Zaslav spearheaded the transaction between AT&T and Discovery to combine with WarnerMedia and create the combined Warner Bros. Discovery in April 2022.
Zaslav's executive compensation package includes an annual salary of $3 million with an annual $22 million bonus. In his contract extension, Zaslav also received stock options valued at $190 million, making him one of the highest-paid entertainment executives in the world. He previously served as the Chief Executive Officer and president of Discovery, Inc. beginning on November 16, 2006 and ending on April 8, 2022, when it was merged with WarnerMedia
Zaslav lives in New York City with his wife Pam and the couple has 3 children.His daughter Ali Zaslav is a congressional producer with CNN
in May 2021, it was announced that Zaslav would serve as CEO of a proposed merger of Discovery with a spin-out of AT&T's WarnerMedia. Zaslav's executive compensation package includes an annual salary of $3 million with an annual $22 million bonus. In his contract extension, Zaslav also received stock options valued at $190 million.
Since August 2022, Zaslav received heavy criticism for his decision to heavily shrink down the content library on the streaming service HBO Max, to be used as tax write-offs. The total accounted loss was nearly $25 billion off the company's market cap. Some of those projects were "practically finished" or in the late stages of post-production, including Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt. Zaslav also received backlash for the removal of many of Warner Bros' animated programs from streaming platforms and pulling most of the service's content in general, including Final Space (which was written off for taxes), Infinity Train, Summer Camp Island, Close Enough, The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo and several hundred episodes of Sesame Street and Looney Tunes shorts, among others, a decision Infinity Train creator Owen Dennis remarked rendered many of the programs effectively as "lost media
Early Life
David Michael Zaslav born January 15, 1960 New York City U.S was born to a Polish and Ukrainian Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. At the age of 8, he moved to Rockland County where he graduated from Ramapo High School. He was captain of the varsity tennis team.
Zaslav earned a BS degree from Binghamton University.
Following this, he graduated from Boston University School of Law with a JD with honors in 1985 and started his career as an attorney with LeBoeuf, Lamb, Lieby and MacRae in New York.
Education
- Binghamton University (BS) -
- Boston University (JD) -
Career
- Warner Bros. Discovery - CEO
- Warner Bros. Discovery - President
Recognition
received the Steven J. Ross Humanitarian Award from the UJA-Federation of New York which honors people of vision, energy and sustained achievement in the entertainment, media and communications industries.
In 2014, Zaslav was awarded the Fred Dressler Leadership Award by Syracuse University's S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
David Zaslav was awarded the Susan Newhouse & SI Newhouse Award of Hope for his support of the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD) in September 2016.
In 2017, Zaslav was inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame.
In 2022, he was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People.