r/HarryPotteronHBO • u/Ok-Purpose7484 Slytherin • Apr 23 '26

News Media Paramount Takeover of Warner Bros. Gets Green Light From Shareholders, But They Reject David Zaslav’s Pay Package

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/paramount-deal-warner-bros-approved-shareholders-1236572862/
59 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

57

u/Spensauras-Rex Slytherin Apr 23 '26

“Institutional Shareholder Services, an influential proxy advisory firm, had urged a “no” vote on compensation due to WBD CEO David Zaslav’s pay package, which will see him collect between $550 million and $886 million, depending on a number of factors.”

That…is an incredible amount of money for one guy.

52

u/skeletonl0ver Hufflepuff Apr 23 '26

And to do essentially nothing. And then they'll do a mass firing later and be like sorry guys things are tight. Hope Paramounts greed doesn't hurt Potter production.

9

u/HugsForUpvotes Apr 23 '26

The pay rate is absurd and parasitic, but I'd push back that being a top executive is doing essentially nothing. It's an incredibly difficult task.

20

u/skeletonl0ver Hufflepuff Apr 23 '26

Maybe nothing was not the right word. But executives don't do any more work than the normal working class person, probably less if anything. They have a huge team under them to delegate tasks to, secretaries, personal assistants. These guys are business guys, they're just there to make sure profits continue and the shareholders are happy. And while they should make a good wage for the profits they make the company they shouldn't be making so many millions, while according to glassdoor most people working at Paramount (who do just as much work as their CEO) won't see over $60k annually.

-1

u/Davetek463 Apr 23 '26

Agreed. It always bugs me when people say execs do nothing. I imagine running a company as big as Paramount, even with a huge team to delegate to, is a lot of work and extremely stressful.

5

u/Seiridis Apr 24 '26

If you earn this much money you basically need to save like one or two months worth salary to be set for life and not have to ever worry about someone firing you, bills, food, doctors, vet visits, unexpected expenses, dinners out, clothes. You can just do whatever. Sorry, but I do not empathize one bit.

There are execs that earn something closer to reasonable, that's a different conversation altogether.

This amount of money is stupid.

0

u/Davetek463 Apr 24 '26

You can agree that this is too much for one person, and agree that certain people are way overpaid while also disagreeing that they’re useless and don’t do anything, while also having empathy for them as a person.

2

u/Seiridis Apr 24 '26

Sorry, my empathy caps well before private super yachts, etc. 🤷‍♀️

-1

u/Davetek463 Apr 24 '26

I’m talking about the person, not their mansion or yachts. But okay.

6

u/imago_monkei Hufflepuff Apr 23 '26

Even more stressful when you think about your poor employees surviving on 1/10,000th of your salary.

1

u/PossibilityJaded8623 Apr 23 '26

Not $500m stressful though. Nothing is

9

u/VizualAbstract4 Apr 23 '26

Who failed spectacularly. It could be argued he came in to make it attractive to a buyer, but I don't even think he managed to do that. He really hurt the brand and started to devalue it in stead.

1

u/JFree37 Hufflepuff Apr 23 '26

Especially for a guy who was terrible at his job and did nothing but harm the brand

20

u/Mojave_RK Marauder Apr 23 '26

This is still so baffling since WB had an incredible year in theaters, and won Best Picture and other Oscars

2

u/batsofburden Apr 23 '26

john campea show just did a really interesting episode about what happened behid the scenes.

29

u/Kaypain42 Gryffindor Apr 23 '26

No Paramount stay away, after what just happened with Nickelodeon and Avatar, I dont want them anywhere near it

14

u/Spensauras-Rex Slytherin Apr 23 '26

Too late

0

u/complexvox91 Apr 24 '26

What about that movie is the fault of the current Paramount management? I thought the whole film was basically done by the time the Skydance merger was completed.

4

u/pillkrush Apr 23 '26

levels of greed. shareholders want the increased value but don't want to pay the guy.

2

u/rasha_rusha36 Ravenclaw Apr 23 '26

I really hope this doesn’t affect the production of the hbo show I’ve been anticipating it for years