David Zaslav Bids Farewell to Warner Bros. Employees in Video on Eve of Skydance Merger Close: ‘It’s Been a Great Honor to Be Alongside All of You’

[u/KingMario05]

David Zaslav Shares Farewell Video to Warner Bros. Discovery Employees

David Zaslav, four and a half years after closing the debt-burdened deal that formed Warner Bros. Discovery, is bidding farewell to the company’s employees as it is about to get swallowed up by David Ellison’s Paramount — to create a media giant saddled with even more debt.

Zaslav, president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, shared a video with employees Monday expressing gratitude for their hard work and creativity over the years. (The video, viewed by Variety, is available only on WBD’s internal portal.) Zaslav will exit with the megamerger of Paramount and WBD, scheduled to close Oct. 6, with the new Ellison-run company adopting the name Skydance Corp.

In the video, Zaslav sits alone in a director’s chair in the Loft warehouse at Warner Bros. Studios’ Ranch facility in Burbank, California.

“For me, it’s been a great honor to be alongside all of you,” Zaslav says, speaking to the camera in the 3-minute video. “I hope you take pride in what you’ve built, what you’ve created, and the role you’ve played in shaping an extraordinary history.”

Zaslav’s video includes a montage of Warner Bros. Discovery’s greatest hits, including clips from “The Pitt,” “The Lego Movie,” “Barbie,” “One Battle After Another,” “Dune,” “Hacks,” “Friends,” “The House of the Dragon,” “White Lotus,” “Abbott Elementary,” “Sinners,” Discovery’s Shark Week and (of course!) “Harry Potter,” as well as shots from CNN and WBD’s sports programming. According to a company source, Zaslav wanted to share his goodbye message as a video rather than a text memo in order to capture the visuals.

(Note: Half of those were before he came on.)

“I can’t wait to see what you do in the years ahead,” Zaslav says. “I’m so grateful for all these years at Warner Bros. Discovery, for the wonderful experiences creating content, telling stories and getting to know so many of you.”

Zaslav has been among the most highly compensated CEOs in the media biz. In 2025, his pay package totaled $165 million. That included a one-time grant of stock options valued at $109.6 million, which the company awarded to Zaslav on June 12, 2025, for his work on the company’s plan to split into two publicly traded entities (one housing WB’s HBO, HBO Max and studios business; the other largely composed of the linear TV network business along with Discovery+ and other assets). The WBD split into two companies did not proceed because of the deal to sell the company to Paramount Skydance.

When the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger closes, Zaslav is set to receive a “golden parachute” payout of at least $550 million.

Over the years, Zaslav and his lieutenants made job cuts across the company as they looked to reduce costs and improve operating efficiency. For full-year 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery had a pro-forma EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) loss of about $2.1 billion. In 2025, it generated EBITDA profit of $1.4 billion and has been on track for double-digit percentage growth in subscriber-related revenue growth in 2026.

Jackass. Someday, I hope he fucking rots.

[u/Norix596]

He really embodies everything wrong with the perverse tax and business incentives of the current era.

[u/KingMario05 → u/Norix596]

Agreed. Let's just home Baby Ellison somehow isn't even worse.

[u/dabir → u/KingMario05]

Of course he's worse, he's all that and he's stupid as hell and he's ideologically motivated to be evil and spread evil

[u/Noirsam]

Say hello to the new boss same as the old boss.

[u/KTR1988 → u/[deleted]]

[u/Regalingual]

Please let the door hit you on the ass on the way out.

…Preferably repeatedly.

[u/seth47er → u/Regalingual]

And by ass we mean exposed neck...

So he'll have a nasty red mark on his neck and NOTHING ELSE would happen.

[u/jockeyman]

When the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger closes, Zaslav is set to receive a “golden parachute” payout of at least $550 million.

Once you get to a certain point in the business world, it's just physically impossible to fail.

You can be the most inept fuck imaginable and there'll still be a fat bucket of money waiting for you on the way out.

[u/MetalJrock]

The ultimate monkey’s paw. We got rid of Zaslav at the cost of a monopoly.

[u/KingMario05 → u/MetalJrock]

We won. And all it took was destroying Warners... likely forever.

Was it worth it?

[u/-BluBone-]

Its been a fun few years of Zaslav destroying television. I can't wait to see how much worse it gets.

[u/KingMario05 → u/-BluBone-]

They have $80 billion (!) in just debt, soo... buckle up.

[u/LifeIsCrap101]

How many billions of dollars in a golden parachute did he get?

[u/ToastyMozart → u/LifeIsCrap101]

A little over half. Fucking absurd the way these idiot executives get rewarded for routinely ruining everything they touch.

[u/LifeIsCrap101 → u/ToastyMozart]

God fucking damn it

[u/KingMario05 → u/LifeIsCrap101]

There will be no justice until he meets the Lord.

And like so many other vultures... he's just gonna land somewhere else.

[u/Havictos → u/LifeIsCrap101]

The concept of the golden parachute is so fucked up.

[u/TJLynch]

I feel like the things I want to say about Zaslav will get me in trouble with Reddit admins.

[u/KingMario05 → u/TJLynch]

Same lol

[u/Capable-Education724]

Wonder if they can use his leaving as a tax write-off.

[u/KingMario05 → u/Capable-Education724]

I hope they try. Fuck it. Why not?

[u/Anonamaton801]

Don’t watch that step on the way out asshole

[u/Palimpsest_Monotype]

I wonder if when he left he got an honorary getup that resembled what a movie director wore in the forties, complete with a little wooden folding chair and a fucking shout-cone.

[u/KingMario05 → u/Palimpsest_Monotype]

I hope he didn't. Just to rub it in.

[u/ComprehensiveMix727]

Someone’s laughing to the bank

[u/akss421]

This dude sucks

[u/KingMario05 → u/akss421]

He doesn't suck, actually.

He sucks ass. Big difference there. And trust me... he's earned it.

[u/Mrgrayj_121]

Wgat a smeghead

[u/ContraryPython]

Fuck this guy

[u/KingMario05 → u/ContraryPython]

A-fuckin'-men.

[u/warjoke]

He deserves a Looney tunes villain sendoff

[u/KingMario05 → u/warjoke]

Ideally from one crafty coyote. Justice must be his!

[u/5YearsOnEastCoast]

I'm pretty sure why no one on board tried kicking him out before was because he had a dirt on them.

[u/KingMario05 → u/5YearsOnEastCoast]

Had to have, right? Only way it makes sense...

[u/DarthButtz]

Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Dave.

One second thought, nah, let it hit you.

[u/KingMario05 → u/DarthButtz]

Hope an employee hits him with it. If you're getting canned anyway, do it in style!

[u/LeMasterofSwords]

Kindly fuck off forever Zaslav

[u/dfighter3]

man fuck him