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Where is Zas and what is he doing next?
Those two questions have become maybe the biggest parlor game in media circles these days now that David “Zas” Zaslav is no longer the CEO of Warner Bros Discovery, so I thought I would snoop around.
The short answer: While I can tell you approximately where he’s been hanging out lately, the fact is that not even Zas knows what his next gig will be. That’s partly because he now has what they call in the old neighborhood “f–k you money,” meaning he can, if he wants, sit around and watch the seasons change.
His $81 billion sale of WBD took some time. A months-long bidding war was followed by legal challenges and finally a settlement with lefty state AGs who concocted an antitrust case out of the WBD sale to Paramount. Eventually, cooler heads prevailed, recognizing it as a case of two companies that needed to team up to compete against tech heavyweights encroaching on their turf.
The settlement cleared the way for the Ellison family and their partners at Redbird Capital to expand their presence in media, adding WBD with its marquee properties of CNN, HBO and the Warner studio on top of Paramount’s CBS, its streaming service and its own iconic studio.
It also cleared the way for one of the biggest paydays in media history. Zas is walking away, all in, with around $1 billion in total comp (vested options, other stock awards and tax benefits) for his four-plus year tenure at WBD.
I have made the case he’s worth every dime. WBD was floundering from the moment he got there until relatively recently. It was created through the combination of Discovery and the old Warner Media and loaded with debt and disparate properties. He fixed the infrastructure, slashed debt and last summer started a bidding war that took the stock to $31 from around $7.
He’s not the only one who did well; as this column has also pointed out. He pushed stock ownership throughout WBD not just his top people, making plenty of newly minted millionaires as a result.
After all of that, Zas is not rushing to do anything. As he recently told someone inquiring about his next move: “Still roping cattle, off the grid.”
It’s hard to imagine Zas riding a horse and lassoing wild beasts in his trademark fleece. On the prairie, you can’t find the same quality bagels and lox they serve at his favorite breakfast spot, Manhattan’s Barney Greengrass.
Also, if you know Zas, he’s a notorious workaholic who is never really off the grid. While he is taking some much-needed downtime now to do some biking in Montana with his family, people who know him say he’s getting ready for a second act, even if he’s not quite sure what that will be.
In other words, the 66-year-old native Brooklynite will likely be back in NYC soon. When he returns, I am told, he could team up with his long-time mentor, cable pioneer John Malone, and “do deals,” one person who knows him tells me.
He also might write a book about his long career on Wall Street. In addition to Malone, Zas learned from the legendary Jack Welch when he was an NBCU executive and the media company was owned by General Electric.
He also might do nothing (he’s rich enough). But he has lately told friends he “needs more hobbies” outside of running media companies, dealmaking, and occasionally biking. When he’s home in NYC, there’s only so much time Zas can spend hang out at Barney Greengrass with a breakfast club that includes former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, Hollywood mogul David Geffen and media magnate Barry Diller.
Keep an eye out, I am told, because Zas has “flexibility to do almost anything.” As a reporter who loves a good story, I can’t wait.