As social media continues to threaten legacy stalwarts, Hollywood has spent the last decade contracting. After Skydance absorbed Paramount last year, billionaire CEO David Ellison, the son of the world’s sixth-richest man, Larry, set his sights on Warner Bros. Ellison triggered a bidding war, which, until last night, Netflix seemed poised to win. But after securing his father’s backing, Paramount increased its share price and expanded its safety net to become the “superior offer.” While this will no doubt have an adverse effect on the movie business (exhibitors report that after Disney absorbed 20th Century Fox, 20th Century’s output decreased by 46%), for now, WBD employees are probably just worried about being laid off (Paramount dismissed 2,000 workers after the Skydance merger).
Never fear, Zaslav’s here. On an all-hands Zoom call this morning, WBD CEO David Zaslav wanted to help his employees get past the “whiplashy” effects of these merger talks. Those employees spent the last year turning Warner Bros. into Hollywood’s most creatively successful studio, breaking records for the most consecutive box-office number ones with movies that often hit the sweet spot between box office and creative success. For more than 20 minutes, though, Zaslav attempted to comfort his employees, who, anonymously, described his sentiments as “cringeworthy” and “grating” to Deadline. Tellingly, he did not take questions from the staff; instead, he reminded them that they are “the envy of everyone in this business.”
“If Warner Bros. is going to survive, then we needed to be bigger, and we needed to be global,” he said. “Some of these companies are getting so big that they can just run us over.”
None of these words, powerful as they may be, helped soothe employee worries, though. Deadline reports that employees called Zaslav, who was accompanied by Chief Revenue and Strategy Officer Bruce Campbell and CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels, “tenuous and timid.” They added, “You can tell that there was a level of sheepishness trying to sell that bigger is better.” Instead, staffers left “shocked” and “melting down,” with some worried about what would become of CNN under Ellison’s control. To that end, Zaslav eased fears by telling employees the cable news giant would have “the opportunity to work with CBS News.” It’s hard to imagine a worse sales pitch in today’s media landscape than “You can be like Bari Weiss’ CBS,” but we digress.
“People could not believe they took no questions from employees. Amazing how out of touch they are,” an employee told Deadline. On the bright side, at least theater owners hate this deal too.
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