Spurred by the rapid proliferation of social media platforms, with questionable content,and a formerpresident who pummeled our free press repeatedly, its no wonder Americans are left wary and our information ecosystem is in shambles. Get the best insights and analysis delivered to your inbox, 2,276 groups organized as super PACs have reported, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Zaslav had a hand in the launch of MSNBC, another left-leaning network, during his time as an NBC executive. Those two tend to split viewers, and Fox News is regularly No. [22] Zaslav instigated a shift in strategy by the company, aiming to see itself as a "content company" rather than a "cable company" by bolstering its main networks (such as its namesake Discovery Channel) as multi-platform brands. Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, gave $500,000 mostly to Democrats. Brian Flood is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Zaslavwill lead the combined company called Warner Bros. I wrote about why I got a COVID shot:Then I was fired from my job. I think Fox News is much more of an advocacy network than a news network, Zaslav said, according to Washington Post media reporter Jeremy Barr. And John Malone, when you hear him, hes still a big part of your life, a big part of Discovery, if he said we need CNN to go back to reporting news". Last November, Zaslav told Deadline that he would take a hands-on approach at CNN and other WarnerMedia properties. His reputation for speed gave Discovery an edge over Comcast as a merger partner. Sprecher also gave at least $106,500 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the official campaign arm of Republicans running for Senate seats. Discovery cant play any role in CNNs operations until the deal concludes. Of the top 10 political donors among S&P 500 CEOs, a majority gave big to GOP groups in the second quarter, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Zaslavs comment drew a surprised response from CNBC host Joe Kernan, who wondered aloud if it was a reference to CNNs ideological bent. "Was there any conjecture that John Malone is behind the curtain? Where do they give money for political gain around regulation and governance? George Soros, a major donor to Wikipediawho funds many new digital media outlets through his Open Society Foundation (see our nonprofit U.S. Media Index), gave $3,679,800. We support credit card, debit card and PayPal payments. In his contract extension, Zaslav also received stock options valued at $190 million, making him one of the highest-paid entertainment executives in the world. If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for $69 per month. Our system is awash in billions of political dollars. "I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing,"Malonesaid in an interview that aired on CNBC. Legal Statement. But what sort of a time will it be? His backers have praised him for keeping his average cost of content to about $400,000 an hour while his rivals now spend $5 million and more. Discovery. Where the country was when we launched MSNBC was much more fact-based and less divided.. Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=David_Zaslav&oldid=1142246299, American chief executives in the media industry, American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent, Articles with dead external links from July 2019, Articles with permanently dead external links, Articles with dead external links from February 2023, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 08:59. [46] He is chair of the Auschwitz: The Past Is Present Committee which promotes awareness of the Holocaust. "After Biden released his economic plan, I would expect CEO donations to President Trump to accelerate. Jeff Zucker is considered to be the person responsible for the CNNs shift away from the nonpartisan outlet it was before his tenure. Zaslav had a hand in the launch of MSNBC, another left-leaning network, during his time as an NBC executive. The Discovery CEO also took aim at Fox News, describing the conservative outlet as much more of an advocacy network than a news network. I think overall wed probably be better off if we just had news networks in America, Zaslav said. People helping raise money for these Republican organizations told CNBC that the idea of taxes going up has struck a nerve with GOP donors and forced them off the sidelines after being largely absent throughout the 2020 election cycle. [35][36] Zaslav's executive compensation package includes an annual salary of $3 million with an annual $22 million bonus. Other notable S&P 500 CEO contributions to Republican led groups in the second quarter include Robert Bradway, the chief executive of biopharmaceutical company Amgen; Daniel Amos, the CEO of insurance giant Aflac; and Gregory Brown, the CEO of Motorola Solutions. Frederick Smith, who runs the billion dollar Sinclair media empire that once offered to do anything for Trump, must not have meant with cash, donating $6,800 to the GOP and $5,800 to Democratic Sen. ChuckSchumer. Send us a tip using our annonymous form. Zaslav, known for delivering fast yes or nos to business partners, would be able to move ahead with speed. The Bloomberg, Powell Jobsand even Murdoch setups are now bizarrely comforting: At least we know where they stand, and the money is domestic. Longtime Discovery chief David Zaslav, who will soon oversee CNN as part of his companys merger with WarnerMedia, called his future competitor Fox News Something we can likely all agree on is that trust in media is at an all-time low and Americans want reliable, nonpartisan news. In media news today, an AP reporter spars with the State Departments Ned Price over allegations on Russia, a report claims that Jeff Zucker and Allison Gollust gave Andrew Cuomo COVID talking points to combat Trump, and an MSNBC broadcast gets interrupted by a Lets Go Brandon flag. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Discovery CEO also took aim at Fox News, describing the conservative outlet as much more of an advocacy network than a news network., I think overall wed probably be better off if we just had news networks in America, Zaslav said. [51], In 2022, he was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People. Barr also said Zaslav did not give an answer when asked about current CNN boss Jeff Zuckers future at the soon-to-be combined company. 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Jake Tapper Promises His Interview With Bill Maher Will Air Uncensored, NEW POLL: Trump Holds Gargantuan 30-Point Lead Over DeSantis And 61-Point Lead Against Nikki Haley, Buttigieg Defends Biden Not Going to East Palestine: His Visit Could Have Disruptive Effects, Nate Silver and Mehdi Hasan Throw Down Over Media Coverage of Covid-19 Lab Leak Theory, Ex-Obama Flack Jen Palmieri Praises Trump Visit to Train Wreck Site On MSNBC Says Biden Must Go. But here is where it fell short. Heidi Legg is the lead research fellow at the Future of Media Project at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University. YOU'VE REACHED YOUR MONTHLY ARTICLE LIMIT. Super PACs have the freedom to report only twice a year, so there may be more to come. That may now stretch to nine months, since Zaslav, having negotiated the $43 billion Discovery-AT&T deal, has now expanded his domain to include Warner Bros, HBO and CNN. His well-documented views were notsecret. But at Warner Bros. Same goes for Jason Kilars future, we presume. Barry Diller, owner of The Daily Beast and Investopedia, gave $120,000. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis. A Division of NBCUniversal. Holiday Haunt. By subscribing, I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Read Next: Prime Video Delays Citadel Trailer Drop Following Greece Train Crash, Almost Famous Star Casey Likes Cast as Marty McFly in Back to the Future: The Musical, AMC Quarterly Earnings: Losses Widen, Revenues Fall Despite Avatar 2 Box Office Success, The Weeknd Sets First Lead Role in Film He Co-Wrote and Produced, Opposite Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan, Woody Harrelson Slams COVID Set Protocols as 'Nonsense,' Urges Hollywood to 'Stop' Forcing 'Vaccination': Thats 'Not a Free Country', Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Writer Surprised by Terrible Reviews: I Was in a Low Spot and Really Sad About It, Super Mario Bros. Movie Is Releasing Two Days Early, Michael B. Jordan Meets Reporter at 'Creed III' Premiere Who 'Teased Him all the Time' in High School: 'I Was the Corny Kid, Right? His corporate boss, Charles Bluhdorn, facing him in his screening room, shouted that public companies could not dabble in porn. He then decided to re-run the films. A continuously updated summary of the news stories that US political commentators are discussing online right now. Usually you ditch people. "He's masterful at presenting himself as an aw-shucks guy from Rockland County, but underneath in the middle of a deal he's more aggressive than one of the great whites on 'Shark Week,'" said a friend. Zaslav spearheaded the transaction between AT&T and Discovery to combine with WarnerMedia and create the combined Warner Bros. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox. Disclosure: Mathias Dpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member. Billionaire Paul Singer, who claimed, post the CNN-Discovery merger, that his activism brought the deal about, balanced things out with his $1.7 million. Change the plan you will roll onto at any time during your trial by visiting the Settings & Account section. That employee makes $66,689, so it would take them 565 years to equal Zaslavs annual compensation. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said Friday on CNBC that he had nothing to do with Jeff Zuckers CNN exit. Is this newly minted class of wealth really absent from politics and political influence? Biden has said he wants to raise the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%. Media tends to be a reflection of where the country is. And even as Zaslav prepped the launch of streaming service Discovery+, which now has 15 million subscribers, he had thoughts about whether to suggest bundling Discovery with Disney, according to a person familiar with talks. [3][4][5] He previously served as the Chief Executive Officer and president of Discovery, Inc. beginning on November 16, 2006 and ending on April 8, 2022, when it was merged with WarnerMedia. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. (CNBC Screenshot). "Well have to see, really.". David M. Zaslav (born January 15, 1960) is the president and chief executive officer of Discovery Inc., a position he has held since January 2007. Most recently under Zaslav, Discovery acquired Scripps Networks Interactive, in a transaction which closed in March 2018. He was previously an executive at NBCUniversal. AT&T Inc., agreed to merge its WarnerMedia division with Discovery Communications Inc., creating a streaming giant to compete with Walt Disney Co.'s Disney+ and Netflix. Then, sheepishly taking back his question, Kernen said, that was an aside. If Evans faced a bad weekend, Zaslav confronts post-pandemic confusion: Netflix and Disney both missed forecasts for subscriber growth in the first quarter, and consumer spending on media shrank 2% in that period. And when asked about the future of cable, the former protector of the cable bundle acknowledged that the medium is declining, but believes it will still stick around a lot longer than people think.. Running WarnerMedia's top-tier assets like HBO and spending big on movies and shows is a far different game from the unscripted business that's Discovery's bread and butter. Later in the CNBC interview, Zaslav referred to growth on the right side of the company, which he described as including WarnerMedia-owned HBO and a growing portfolio of sports rights. His Greenwich Village home where the WarnerMedia deal was cooked up is now on the market, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Philip Anschutz, owner of the Washington Examiner, gave $168,500. David All rights reserved. Other top-paid Discovery executives included Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels, who earned $6.9 million in total compensation, down from the $7.4 million he earned in 2019. After all, he intended to spend more time on it, and style is as important in tennis as it is in show business. [13][14] He was captain of the varsity tennis team.[15]. Market data provided by Factset. [50], In 2017, Zaslav was inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame. Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) has reported financial results for the quarter and year ended December 31st 2022. Zaslav is also known as a CEO who keeps a tight rein on programming costs. Definitely to the left, Kernen said. Even his wife, Clare Boothe Luce, herself a Republican member of Congress, chastised him publicly for his relentless coverage in Time of Barry Goldwaters GOP nomination for president. LIBERTY MEDIA CHAIRMAN CHIDES CNN TO 'ACTUALLY HAVE JOURNALISTS' FOLLOWING AT&T-DISCOVERY MERGER, "None of us had anything to do with it. In September 2020, Zaslav confided to a close friend that he was concerned about the fate of the company he'd spent 15 years building. Yet, we know little about their political views or how that money is being spent. That bit of corporate sorcery has now prompted him to re-invent the Zaslav legacy indeed to re-shape it in the aura of the Evans legacy. [6][7], Zaslav was born to a Polish and Ukrainian Jewish family[8][9][10][11] in Brooklyn, New York. For a full comparison of Standard and Premium Digital, click here. [16], Zaslav joined NBC in 1989. Zaslav also oversaw NBCUniversal's interests in A&E, The History Channel, The Biography Channel, National Geographic International, the Sundance Channel and TiVo. Now he will oversee WarnerMedia. He's used his salary to buy some of the most sought-after real estate around, buying the Hollywood home of "The Godfather" film director Robert Evans for $16 million and snapping up Conan O'Brien's apartment on Central Park West. Zucker abruptly resigned this week after admitting he failed to properly disclose his relationship with another senior executive, CNN chief marketing officer Allison Gollust. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Were running our business," Zaslav said. One Warner executive told friends that Zaslav's unexpected arrival would bring structure and order versus the "move-fast and break things" style of the WarnerMedia's current chief executive, Jason Kilar, whose future with the company is still unclear. In fact, Zaslavclaimed Discovery didn't have anything to do with Zucker's stunning exit, when he was bluntly asked on CNBC about the future of CNN, as well as remarks by Liberty Media chairman John Malone last year that he wanted CNN to revert to more traditional journalism. Journalism is not meant to be public relations for political parties. 2017, Zaslav was inducted into the Cable Hall david zaslav political party Fame right now acquired networks! 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