Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders reject CEO David Zaslav's $52M pay package
A majority of Warner Bros Discovery shareholders voted against the 2024 pay packages of CEO David Zaslav and other top executives at the media conglomerate's annual stockholder meeting, a Tuesday regulatory filing showed.
The board of directors had recommended shareholders to vote in favor of the 2024 executive compensation; however, more than 59% of them rejected the proposal on a non-binding basis.
For 2024, Zaslav's total compensation rose 4% from the prior year to $51.9 million.
For 2024, CEO David Zaslav's total compensation rose 4% from the prior year to $51.9 million. More than 59% of shareholders rejected the proposal on a non-binding basis.
REUTERS
Warner Bros Discovery has been struggling to stem declines in its cable TV business amid widespread cord-cutting, focusing instead on its faster-growing streaming and studios divisions.
Last month, it missed first-quarter revenue estimates and posted a larger-than-expected loss.
The company is also moving towards a potential breakup, CNBC reported last month. WBD had laid the groundwork for a possible sale or spinoff of its declining cable TV assets last December by announcing a separation from its streaming and studio operations.
Powered by a strong content slate, including the third season of HBO's 'The White Lotus' and the medical drama series 'The Pitt,' WBD added 5.3 million streaming subscribers in the January-March quarter, beating market expectations, but still far off from streaming industry leader Netflix.
Warner Bros. Discovery is also moving towards a potential breakup.
REUTERS
The company last month also walked back on the branding of its streaming service, Max, bringing back the HBO name it dropped two years ago.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
9 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump suggests terminating Musk's US government contracts, subsidies
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump suggested on Thursday that he may terminate U.S. government contracts and subsidies given to Elon Musk's companies, as the public feud between the two men escalates over a tax and spending bill. "The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts," Trump said in a Truth Social post. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump budget bill would kill subsidies that made home solar mainstream
By Nichola Groom (Reuters) -A last-minute tweak to the Republican budget bill passed by Congress last month would immediately end subsidies for solar leasing companies that help make rooftop systems affordable to homeowners, likely leading to a massive drop in the pace of installations, according to industry representatives. President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill," now being taken up by the Republican-controlled Senate, would eliminate a 30% tax credit for solar leasing companies that charge homeowners a monthly fee for panels - one of numerous cuts directed at clean energy subsidies passed by former President Joe Biden. That provision, inserted shortly before the bill passed the House of Representatives on May 22, risks stifling a sector that buys American-made equipment, employs thousands of people and relieves strain on the grid, according to industry backers. "That's one of the harsher components of the one big, beautiful bill currently," said Gabe Rubio, a principal in the business incentives and tax credits practice at professional services firm BDO. Tax credits for homeowners who own their own rooftop systems would also be eliminated. The changes could result in as much as 40% less residential solar capacity being installed over the next five years, according to energy research firm Wood Mackenzie. Solar companies are lobbying the Senate to make changes to the bill before it becomes law. "America's home solar and storage industry is a powerful economic growth engine," Sunrun CEO Mary Powell said in a statement. "Senate Republicans now have an opportunity to advance the administration's energy independence agenda by amending this bill to keep American energy prices low and create well-paying U.S. manufacturing jobs." Trump campaigned on a promise to repeal the clean energy tax credits in Biden's 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, arguing they are expensive, unnecessary and harmful to business. Republican backers of the bill say the subsidy cuts would free up billions of dollars for other priorities. More than 5 million U.S. homes have solar panels, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. LAST MINUTE CHANGE An earlier version of the bill had protected the credit for leased solar systems, but fiscal hawks including Representative Chip Roy of Texas have said publicly that they pressed for deeper cuts to clean energy credits at the eleventh hour. Roy's office did not respond to a request for comment. Solar leasing was pioneered two decades ago by companies including Sunrun and SolarCity, which is now owned by Elon Musk's company Tesla, and quickly became the primary way home solar panels were financed. Under the model, solar installers partner with financiers that own the rooftop panels and offset their federal tax bills by claiming the credit. Homeowners either pay a monthly fixed fee to lease the equipment or pay for the electricity the system generates under a power purchase agreement (PPA). In what some analysts have said could be a loophole, the House bill directly references leased systems but does not mention PPAs. About 44% of residential systems sold today are under such arrangements, according to EnergySage, an online solar marketplace. Solar installers say undermining the subsidies could have a ripple effect on U.S. manufacturers that supply them. Freedom Forever, a top privately-held installer based in Temecula, California, said in two years it has gone from using no U.S.-made equipment to now sourcing 85% of it from American facilities. That is thanks to another IRA subsidy that provides bonus 10% tax credits for using American-made equipment. "The administration wants to bring manufacturing back to the United States, and that's what our industry has been doing for the last two to three years," Freedom Forever CEO Brett Bouchy said.
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Amazon Launches Agentic AI Group to Enhance Its Warehouse Robots, Reports Say
Amazon has launched a new team focused on the development of agentic AI for its robotics division, according to reports. The team will be housed at Lab126, the Amazon R&D unit responsible for the Kindle e-reader, Fire TV products, and Echo devices, according to CNBC and Reuters. Agentic AI, unlike more straightforward tools like chatbots, is designed to handle complex tasks assigned by users, sometimes with little human interaction (AMZN) reportedly has assembled a research and development (R&D) team to develop an agentic artificial intelligence (AI) framework for its robotics division. The team will be housed at Lab126, the Amazon R&D unit responsible for the Kindle e-reader, Fire TV products, and Echo devices, according to CNBC and Reuters. Agentic AI, unlike more straightforward tools like chatbots, is designed to handle complex tasks assigned by users, sometimes with little human interaction required. Amazon wants to use that technology in its warehouse robots, making them capable of performing in-depth processes rather than just a single job, the reports said. "We're creating systems that can hear, understand and act on natural language commands, turning warehouse robots into flexible, multi-talented assistants," Amazon said, per Reuters. Earlier this year, Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched its own agentic AI division, according to Reuters, which said it had viewed an internal email from AWS CEO Matt Garman in which he wrote that agentic AI had potential to be "the next multi-billion business for AWS." Shares of Amazon rose nearly 2% in recent trading Thursday but are down 4% in 2025. Read the original article on Investopedia
