Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders reject advisory vote on executive pay

A majority of Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders voted against the 2024 compensation package given to Chief Executive David Zaslav and other executives at the company’s annual meeting Monday, according to a regulatory filing.

Almost 60% of the votes cast came in against the 2024 executive pay package at the company, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday. The vote is nonbinding.

In a statement, the board said it “takes the results of the annual advisory vote on executive compensation seriously,” adding it “looks forward to continuing its regular practice of engaging in constructive dialog with our shareholders.”

Zaslav, 65, earned $51.9 million last year in salary, stock awards and other compensation. Shares of Warner Bros. declined 7.1% in 2024, while the S&P 500 index gained 23%.

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Warner Bros. reported first-quarter financial results that missed Wall Street’s estimates last month. The company recently reorganized into two business units, fueling speculation it may split off cable TV networks like CNN and TNT into a separate company. The entertainment giant took a $9.1 billion writedown to reflect the declining value of its traditional TV networks last year.

Zaslav, who merged Discovery with WarnerMedia in 2022 to create Warner Bros. Discovery, has drawn criticism during his tenure as CEO. He recently changed the name of the company’s Max streaming service back to HBO Max after an unsuccessful brand overhaul. The company also announced it is launching a new online video service built around CNN, three years after canceling the short-lived CNN+ streaming service.

Miller writes for Bloomberg.