David Zaslav, recent media CEO, divests from stocks, selling $30 million worth of stock for year-end estate planning

David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, just sold about $30 million worth of stock, or about 2.6 million shares, in connection with “year-end income tax and gift/estate planning purposes.”

He sold the shares starting Dec. 16 at an average price of $11.73, according to an SEC filing. Following the sale, Zaslav holds 3.45 million WBD shares worth over $38 million. The WBD boss also holds over 20 million stock options, some of which are exercisable and some of which are not, according to the April proxy statement on outstanding stock awards at the end of 2023. So the sale does not reflect a significant portion of its holdings.

In any case, he will get more. Zaslav and other media CEOs typically receive a combination of stock or option awards or both as part of their annual compensation packages. They also often sell at the end of the year to cover taxes and estate planning. Zaslav’s stock sale appears to be his first since his tenure as chairman of the merged Warner Bros. Discovery.

Last month, Disney CEO Bob Iger exercised options to sell 372,412 shares, or $42.7 million, before the deadline. That was the maximum amount allowed under an option plan approved earlier this year that was set to expire in December.

And Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts sold 469.5 million shares for $20.4 million, also for year-end planning purposes. They did not constitute a significant part of his property.