David Zaslav has ridden off into the sunset — proverbially, sources tell us — after raking in more than $606 million on the Warner Bros.-Paramount merger.
“He’s on vacation, out of town now,” said an insider of the outgoing president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery. “He’s definitely off the grid for a little while.”
The exec’s vacay comes as Paramount completed its $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, and an “exhausted”-looking David Ellison addressed the press and Wall Street on Tuesday as Skydance CEO.
Sources also told us that on Wednesday, Zaslav blasted out an email to friends and colleagues informing them of his new contact info. (We can only imagine a message giving Zaslav’s gmail address and saying, “For urgent matters, please contact David Ellison at…”)
We hear there’s a Skydance party celebrating the merger this weekend. (Zaslav will not be in attendance, apparently.)
But is selling Warners Zas’ last act in Hollywood?
Industry watchers are wondering what the vacationing Zaslav’s next move might be when he returns to the grid. The talk around town is that the tycoon could work again with his former mentor, John Malone, the cable pioneer who Zaslav reportedly still texts daily.
Malone has said he advised Zaslav on the Warner boss’ eye-popping $51.9 million pay package at the studio in 2024, as well as Zaslav’s broadcast negotiations with the NBA.
And while Zaslav relocated to LA from NYC to run WBD and snapped up the famed estate Woodland — the onetime playpen of late Paramount studio boss Robert Evans — insiders insist that Zaslav has no plans to sell the historic home.
