David Zaslav’s week just went from bad to slightly worse. On Tuesday, Variety ran a story about how bummed he was to lose his job as Warner Bros. Discovery CEO as the company merges with Paramount, even if he was getting a massive payout. Now, shareholders have officially voted to approve the merger, but, after watchdog groups sounded the alarm, rejected his pay package… in a non-binding resolution that the company doesn’t actually have honor if it doesn’t feel like it, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Ah, well.
In any case, the vote actually is a major step forward for a wildly unpopular merger. The shareholders who stand to profit are by and large cool with it, though; the company’s secretary told THR that shareholders voted “overwhelmingly” for approval. The results are still preliminary, meaning that the full picture of votes hasn’t yet been shared. Still, this approval is considered the final step before the regulatory hurdles to seal the deal. Those hurdles are not expected to be too much of an issue in the United States given the Ellisons’ favorable relationship with the Trump administration, but could pose a bit more of a challenge in Europe.
The merger is still not without strong opposition in the United States, however. Thousands of industry workers—many of them quite famous—have signed an open letter opposing the merger. Meanwhile non-profit advocacy group Free Press (of no relation to that Bari Weiss joint) released a statement after the vote, vowing to fight the merger and calling on state attorneys general to investigate the merger and to enact antitrust actions. Even Netflix has reportedly started meddling behind the scenes to stop the merger from happening. With so many parties involved, at least there’s still a chance of something happening besides the absolute worst option.
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