David Zaslav said goodbye to Warner Bros. Discovery employees in a three-minute video posted to the company’s internal portal Monday, his last full day as CEO before David Ellison’s Skydance officially takes over the company, according to Deadline and Variety. The Paramount-WBD merger is scheduled to close Oct. 6, with the combined company adopting the Skydance Corp. name, Variety reported.
Filmed from a director’s chair at Warner Bros. Studios’ Ranch facility in Burbank, California, Zaslav thanked the workforce for years of creative output as a montage of WBD titles played behind him, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The reel included clips from “The Lego Movie,” “Barbie,” “Dune,” “Hacks,” “Friends,” “House of the Dragon,” “White Lotus,” “Abbott Elementary,” “Sinners” and “Harry Potter,” along with footage from CNN and the company’s sports coverage, Variety reported.
What David Zaslav said in his farewell video
“You start with an idea, and through talent, expertise and an enormous amount of hard work, turn it into something real,” Zaslav said in the video, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “Something that connects with people, stays with them and becomes part of their lives.”
“For me, it’s been a great honor to be alongside all of you,” Zaslav said, according to Variety. “I hope you take pride in what you’ve built, what you’ve created, and the role you’ve played in shaping an extraordinary history.”
He closed with a direct message to the staff he’s leaving behind. “I can’t wait to see what you do in the years ahead,” Zaslav said, according to Deadline. “I’m so grateful for all these years at Warner Bros. Discovery, for the wonderful experiences creating content, telling stories and getting to know so many of you.”
A company source told Variety that Zaslav chose a video over a written memo specifically so he could include the visual montage. The Hollywood Reporter, however, said the message was “not being kindly met inside the Burbank lot,” with one executive calling it “so tone deaf.”
What it means for fans and WBD employees
The mood on the lot ranges from “anxiety, fear, anger, and survival mode,” according to The Hollywood Reporter, which reported that the sale Zaslav negotiated sets up layoffs across the company in the coming months. For fans, the leadership change marks the end of Zaslav’s tenure overseeing properties like DC Studios and Barbie heading into the Skydance era.
Zaslav is set to leave with a golden parachute payout of at least $550 million when the merger closes, according to Variety. The Hollywood Reporter reported his full exit package could be worth upwards of $800 million, with the exact figure to be disclosed in SEC filings in the coming days.
In 2025, Zaslav’s total pay package came to $165 million, including a one-time stock option grant worth $109.6 million awarded that June for his work on a planned company split, Variety reported. That split, which would have separated WBD’s studios and streaming business from its cable networks, never happened because of the Skydance deal.
Context: how the Paramount-WBD merger came together
Zaslav and the WBD board signed the deal to sell the company to Ellison’s studio in February, four and a half years after Zaslav’s Discovery closed its debt-heavy acquisition of what was then Warner Media from AT&T, according to Deadline. The merger was valued at $110 billion, with WBD shareholders receiving a $31-a-share payout after the stock closed its final trading day at $30.95, according to Deadline.
During his tenure, Zaslav worked to pare down the company’s debt load and push WBD toward streaming profitability, Deadline reported. The company posted a pro-forma EBITDA loss of about $2.1 billion for full-year 2022 but generated an EBITDA profit of $1.4 billion in 2025, with double-digit subscriber revenue growth on track for 2026, according to Variety.
What’s next
The Paramount-WBD merger is set to close Oct. 6, with the resulting company taking the Skydance Corp. name, Variety reported. Ellison has already named his leadership team, including Ynon Kreiz, Casey Bloys, George Cheeks and Dana Goldberg in C-suite roles, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Reporting from The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline and Variety contributed to this story.
