‘Rigor Mortis’ Forecast for CNN as Warner Bros. Discovery Slashes CEO David Zaslav’s Pay Package Amid News Channel’s Ratings Collapse

The chief executive, David Zaslav, of CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, is expected to get hit with a major pay cut three years into the merger of Warner Brothers and Discovery, which was accompanied by a disastrous drop in ratings and revenue for CNN, once considered the crown jewel of the now vanished Time Warner company.According to an SEC filing earlier this week, the company is revising the pay package for Mr. Zaslav — whose enormous compensation deals have long been criticized as examples of media CEOs getting richer and richer even as the industry collapsed around them.The announcement comes a week after WBD disclosed that it will separate its lucrative streaming services from its troubled cable businesses, including CNN. A “media insider” told Fox News that executives have about 10 years “to squeeze every last penny out of that place before rigor mortis.”Mr. Zaslav will oversee the streaming services while WBD’s chief financial executive, Gunnar Wiedenfels, will be tasked with overseeing the new cable company, temporarily known as Global Networks. The break-up comes just three years after WBD was created, as Mr. Zaslav bet that large media conglomerates were the best way to compete with streaming giants.David Zaslav attends the Warner Bros. Pictures ‘Sinners’ New York premiere at AMC Lincoln Square Theater on April 3, 2025. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty ImagesThe only person who’s benefited from the merger is Mr. Zaslav. The share value of the combined companies is now a fraction of what it was. The cable businesses in particular have struggled, and CNN’s ratings have plummeted in recent years.The filing states that Mr. Zaslav’s new agreement will “significantly reduce his target annual compensation, including lowering his annual cash compensation opportunity and reorienting the total pay mix toward long-term incentives.”The change is supposed to “foster a stronger alignment with stockholders and incentivize sustained, long-term value creation.”Mr. Zaslav’s annual salary will stay at $3 million a year, the Wall Street Journal reports. However, his target bonus will plummet to $6 million, down from a target of $22 million. Last year, Mr. Zaslav was paid $51.9 million, which the Journal notes made him one of the S&P 500’s highest-paid chief executives.WBD was consummated in 2022 through the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery Communications. However, it did not live up to the hopes of being a media juggernaut. From the beginning, executives embarked on harsh cost-cutting measures to help pay off the more than $50 billion in debt that Mr. Zaslav took on to execute the deal, which elevated him from presiding over low-rent reality shows on the Discovery Channel to being the head of a prestigious studio and premium content creators like HBO. In terms of revenue, the company struggled amid the challenging environment facing many cable companies. In the first quarter of 2025, WBD posted a net loss of $453 million. Meanwhile, its revenue fell 10 percent to $8.97 billion. WBD said it added more than 5 million subscribers to its streaming services. However, CNN’s audience has shrunk significantly. In May, the network averaged 426,000 primetime viewers, and just 76,000 in the key 25- to 54-year-old demo. That marked an 18 percent decrease in total viewers from the same time last year and a 21 percent decrease in the demo.Across the total day, CNN averaged 353,000 viewers with 59,000 demo viewers. That represented a 25 percent annual decrease for total viewers and a 27 percent decrease in the demo.The ratings paint a dismal picture for CNN. During President Trump’s first term in office, CNN saw a ratings boost. Between the 2020 election and Mr. Trump’s last day in office, the network averaged 2.5 million viewers during the primetime hours. Despite harsh cost-cutting measures, CNN is still believed to pay some of its hosts, who draw in fewer than 100,000 viewers in the coveted demo, seven- and eight-figure salaries. Amid the ratings collapse for CNN despite efforts to revamp the network and the dire financial situation, WBD shareholders voted to reject a pay package for Mr. Zaslav earlier this month. In a statement about the new pay package, WBB’s chairman, Samuel A. Di Piazza Jr., said, “As we plan for the proposed separation of Warner Bros. Discovery, the Board prioritized retaining and incentivizing the continued contributions of David Zaslav and Gunnar Wiedenfels.”“We structured the new compensation packages to address shareholders’ feedback by fostering pay-for-performance alignment, ensuring industry-standard pay structures, and incentivizing contributions to position the two new leading media companies for success and shareholder value creation,” he said. WBD’s SEC filing states that the new pay package was made after it considered a “range of inputs” that included “stockholder feedback obtained over the last few years, peer group practices and benchmarks, strategic priorities of WBD and the value creation opportunities.”Mr. Zaslav is not the only one expected to see a pay cut. Puck’s Dylan Byers, a former CNN reporter, said in a column last week that his former employer will likely see significant cost-cutting efforts due to its lower ratings and the cable industry’s overall “inexorable decline.”Mr. Wiedenfels, who has developed a reputation as a ruthless cost-cutter, will oversee CNN once the WBD break-up is complete, which is expected to take place in 2026. Mr Byers suggested that there could be cuts coming to CNN.“This will have perceptible ramifications on the talent side. Why, for instance, would Gunnar pay Anderson Cooper $18 million a year when Kaitlan Collins draws the same ratings at roughly a fifth of the salary?” Mr. Byers asked. “Do CNN’s bureaus and infrastructure make economic sense in this brave new world? Increasingly less, of course. Over time, it will look more and more like HLN, which is one reason HLN no longer exists.”CNN did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.

‘Rigor Mortis’ Forecast for CNN as Warner Bros. Discovery Slashes CEO David Zaslav’s Pay Package Amid News Channel’s Ratings Collapse

‘Rigor Mortis’ Forecast for CNN as Warner Bros. Discovery Slashes CEO David Zaslav’s Pay Package Amid News Channel’s Ratings Collapse

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