Loss-making Discovery’s CEO pay rises to $50 mln in 2023

Warner Bros Discovery, CEO David Zaslav’s annual compensation rose nearly 27% to $49.7 million in 2023, a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed on Friday.

The rise in pay was partly related to the loss-making media conglomerate’s decision to align its executive compensation to focus more on debt reduction and free cash flow.

Warner Bros Discovery reported an 86% jump in free cash flow to $6.16 billion in 2023, partially because of lower spending during the Hollywood strikes that had paralyzed production for months.

The company reported a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss in February, pressured by the decline of cable TV, a weak advertising market and the fallout from the Hollywood strikes.

Zaslav received stock awards of $23.1 million in 2023, compared with $12 million in 2022. Shares of the company rose 20% last year.

Although Zaslav’s pay rose from 2022, it dwarfs his 2021 compensation of $246.5 million.

(This story has been corrected to say that the free cash flow ‘partially,’ not ‘largely,’ benefited from lower spending during the Hollywood strikes in paragraph 3) Reuters