5 most overpaid Hollywood CEOs

For the first time since the 1960s, both the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) are on strike, holding out for better pay, increased job security, and guardrails on the use of AI, among other things. Neither actors nor writers are working right now, effectively bringing all major TV and film production to a halt, with some exceptions.

In her speech announcing the strike, SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher, The Nanny herself, pointed to exorbitant CEO pay as evidence the studios could, if they wanted, pay actors better. “I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us,” she said. “I cannot believe it, quite frankly, how far apart we are on so many things, how they plead poverty, that they’re losing money left and right while giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs. It is disgusting. Shame on them. They stand on the wrong side of history at this very moment.”

As the strikes drag on — the actors have been on the picket lines for three weeks and the writers for three months — I wanted to look at that point: how much do these CEOs get paid, is it justified, and would reducing that pay help free up money to pay other people in the industry? To that end, let’s take a tour of some of the best-paid people in the entertainment business, and indeed the world, starting with the guy on top of the mountain:

David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery

According to an analysis by the Los Angeles Times, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav made $498,915,318 over a period of five years, from 2018 to 2022. That’s half a billion in half a decade. I think it’s kind of hard for a lot of people to get their heads around what it means for one person to have that much money. Like, what do they even do with half a billion dollars?

Putting existential questions aside, let’s focus on 2021, the year before Warner Bros. and Discovery merged into one. That’s when Zaslav got his biggest payday: $246 million.

Breaking it down further with an assist from Deadline, in 2021, Zaslav was paid a base salary of $3 million. On top of that he got a stock award of $13 million, and non-equity incentive plan compensation (which is corporate speak for a bonus, basically) of $22 million.

The biggest chunk came in the form of a $202 million option grant. This money wasn’t given to Zaslav in a lump sum like much of the rest. Instead, he gets the $202 million if, over the years when he’s managing the studio, the stock hits a certain point. It’s possible that Zaslav will never see this money, meaning that he’ll only have received some $38 million in the year 2021. Who will water the plants on his private island then?

I’m not a financial expert, but you don’t have to get the math exactly right to know that Zaslav received a f**k-ton of money in 2021, even if the option grant is contingent on future events. Speaking of the option grant, the idea behind it is that it will incentivize Zaslav to get the company stock to rise, which is his job. I’d like us all to pause and think about that. David Zaslav, in the year 2021, was paid some $38 million up front. Then, in order to make sure he does good work, he was promised an additional $202 million pending the company’s stock hitting certain targets. This boggles my brain a bit, because is $38 million in salary and bonuses not enough of an incentive to do a good job?

The executive team at Warner Bros. made out very well in 2021, too. CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels got $11.3 million; Chief Development, Distribution and Legal Officer Bruce Campbell got $12.6 million; Chief Corporate Operating Officer David Leavy got $6.4 million; and President and CEO of Discovery International Jean-Briac Perrette got $13.4 million. As we take a look at our next high-roller, keep in mind that it’s not just the guy in charge who takes home exorbitant amounts of money, but a whole group of people at the top.