In 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery, a big company in the media and entertainment industry, faced a tough year but still paid its top executives significantly more than the year before.
David Zaslav, the CEO, received $49.7 million in 2023, which was a 26.5% increase from his $39.3 million compensation in 2022. This package included a base salary of $3 million, $23.1 million in stock awards, a $22 million cash bonus, and an additional $1.6 million for personal benefits like security and private jet use.
Other high-ranking executives at Warner Bros. Discovery also saw their salaries increase by double digits. For instance, the CFO and other key officers received pay hikes ranging from 26% to 43%.
Despite cutting costs in some areas, the company succeeded in generating $6.16 billion in free cash flow in 2023, an 86% increase from the previous year. This improvement helped them reduce their huge debt from $48.6 billion to $41.9 billion.
However, not all was smooth for Warner Bros. Discovery. Their TV, advertising, and studio revenues fell, with the studio revenue alone dropping by 12%. On the other hand, their streaming service managed a small profit. The company’s total revenue was down 4% to $41.3 billion, and it reported a net loss of $3.13 billion.
The company’s stock hasn’t done well since their merger with AT&T’s WarnerMedia in April 2022, falling 29% in early 2024. They plan to report their first-quarter results for 2024 on May 9, and their annual shareholder meeting is scheduled for June 3, which will be held online.
Warner Bros. Discovery noted several challenges in 2023, such as reduced advertising spending, more competition, the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 on movie theaters, and significant industry strikes by writers and actors.
Despite these obstacles, the company’s board believed their top executives provided outstanding leadership and achieved key business targets. Adjustments were made to account for the strikes when determining bonuses, but these did not affect the final performance metrics for streaming subscribers.
Warner Bros. Discovery includes various well-known media outlets and services, such as HBO, CNN, the Discovery Channel, and the Max streaming service. David Zaslav, who led the company through the merger, had been the CEO of Discovery since 2007 before taking over the combined entity. Source
