Wednesday, August 7, 2024

Warner Brothers-Discovery To Cut 1000 Jobs

The paradigm of home entertainment has changed dramatically, according to this John Nolte piece. Technological advances make events like this inevitable and ever more frequent. 

One of the most interesting aspects of the Warner Bros./Discovery problem is not so much the changing circumstances of the business but instead those who run it. In this case that would be CEO David Zaslav, one of the highest paid executives on the planet. His contract to lead the combined operation, signed in 2021, includes an annual salary of $3 million with an annual signing bonus of $22 million and stock options with a value of $190 million.

In the past year WBD share prices have fallen from $13.16 to $8.67 today, a drop of 34%.

 Discovery CEO David Zaslav Teases Direct-to-Consumer Future - Variety

variety.com 

Maybe the share holders of WBD should be happy that this certified genius has kept the video service from becoming the modern equivalent of the Morse code telegraph and rejoice in the fact that he's willing to put in the time and effort needed for such small compensation.

In fact, maybe Zaslav would be the ideal pick to be the next Democrat candidate for US president, despite the need to take a huge pay cut, since he's already a significant donor to Dem causes. A ticket made up of Zaslav and George Clooney would be tough for the GOP to match. 

Update: As of August 6, Warner Bros. Discovery has posted a second quarter net loss of $9.9 billion or $4.07 per share and shares in the company dropped 9.2% in aftermarket trading.     

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