As Paramount's Sky Dance(PSKY.US) acquisition deal advances, Warner Bros. explores senior executives including CEO selling over $200 million worth of company stock in total

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD.US) CEO David Zaslav sold over $113 million worth of company stock this week, cashing out some of his holdings as the company prepares to be acquired by Paramount Global (PSKY.US).

According to disclosures, this sale only accounts for a portion of Zaslav’s holdings. Based on the acquisition price proposed by Paramount, he still owns more than $220 million worth of common stock, and after the deal closes, he could potentially earn hundreds of millions of dollars more through additional stock awards.

On Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery’s stock closed at $28, well below the $31 per share offer from Paramount, indicating that Zaslav sold his shares at a significant discount to the potential acquisition price. Huber Research Partners media analyst Doug Arthur said, “For a deal that’s unlikely to face many obstacles, a roughly 10% discount seems quite large.”

In addition to Zaslav, eight other insiders sold a total of over $98 million worth of stock this week, including CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels, who sold nearly $28 million worth. Warner Bros. Discovery did not comment on this.

Some of the stock sales came from compensation awards Zaslav received this year. The company’s board previously granted him over $110 million in stock awards for achieving strategic and financial goals. Last year, he was also granted new performance stock awards, which, as the company’s share price rose on takeover rumors, quickly increased in value to hundreds of millions of dollars.

Since the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery to form Warner Bros. Discovery in 2022, Zaslav’s management has faced criticism from some investors. However, as the company became a takeover target and its stock price surged, his holdings’ value increased significantly.

Under the final acquisition proposal from Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders would receive nearly a 150% premium over the stock price before the market first reported acquisition rumors in September last year. Gamco Investors founder Mario Gabelli said in an interview, “The real winner is Zaslav. He successfully pushed for a bidding process, and the company’s stock performed very well.”

Throughout the bidding process, Paramount emphasized that its offer was superior to Netflix’s (NFLX.US) proposal and believed regulatory approval would be easier. Netflix reached a preliminary acquisition agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery in December 2025, but since it already has a larger user base in the streaming market, the deal might face stricter antitrust scrutiny.

Currently, Paramount has received antitrust approval from the U.S. Department of Justice but still needs regulatory clearance from the UK, Europe, and some U.S. state attorneys general. According to the agreement, if the deal fails due to regulatory reasons, Paramount must pay Warner Bros. Discovery a breakup fee of $7 billion. The company expects the transaction to be completed in the third quarter of this year.