David Zaslavs generous and unpopular pay package is about to change.

Amid a split of Warner Bros. Discovery, which will see the companys TV networks and streamer Discovery+ spun off into a new, separate entity, the WBD compensation committee is revising the structure of Zaslavs compensation.

Zaslav, the Warner Bros. Discovery president and CEO, will stay behind with the studios and HBO and Max in other words, with the good stuff. His longtime chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels will serve as CEO of the spinoff company. The WBD compensation committee says it has redesigned Zaslavs package to better incentivize his critical contributions. His pay will be far more tied to the companys total stock return; no longer will debt reduction and cash flow cut it.

Zaslav will get less cash and more shares, and no matter how you slice it, his pay is going down, a person with knowledge of the new deal tells The Hollywood Reporter.

Though this decision was made by the board and compensation committee, it was very much a response to a shareholder vote from earlier this month. WBD common stockholders overwhelmingly voted against Zaslavs generous executive compensation package. The vote was non-binding, but it certainly informed todays news.

One of the goals here is to address stockholder feedback and preferences with respect to CEO compensation structure, WBD said in its Monday 8-K filing.

Zaslav have been one of medias highest-paid executives for many years including 2024 it stopped being funny when WBD common stockholders saw their own investments plummeting while Zaslavs package topped $50 million.

The new deal commenced last week with a stock option award consisting of nearly 21 million stock options in the form of 60 percent performance-vesting stock options and 40 percent time-based stock options.

Zaslavs new performance metrics for bonuses both cash and equity are set to be a moving target. His base salary will be $3 million; following the split, his target annual cash bonus opportunity will be reduced to $6 million. The actual payout is TBD based on some goals to come, and his annual bonus payout will be capped at 200 percent the target amount. Zaslavs equity awards will have a target value of $15.5 million in year one; the target will be reduced to $7.5 million for the following years.

So hes not exactly going to the poorhouse.

Zaslavs golden parachute has not changed much, though those targets have as well. Wiedenfels package saw minor, but unremarkable, changes.