CNN Top Boss David Zaslav's Salary Revealed By Protester On TV: 'Same' As 10,000 Writers

A television writer and comedian called out CNN's top boss on air while discussing Hollywood film and television writers' decision to go on strike.

During an interview with CNN's Sara Sidner Tuesday, Adam Conover said that David Zaslav, the chief executive officer of Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of the cable news network, was paid $250 million last year.

"That's about the same level as what 10,000 writers are asking him to pay all of us collectively, alright. So I would say if you're being paid $250 million — these companies are making enormous amounts of money," said Conover, a Writers Guild of America member and creator of truTV's "Adam Ruins Everything."

"Their profits are going up. It's ridiculous for them to plead poverty," he added.

Conover's remarks surprised Sidner, who joked that his statement might get her in trouble.

"Thank you so much for coming on because you ruin everything. You may have just ruined my career, but I don't mind," Sidner said.

Conover may have been referring to Zaslav's 2021 compensation package, which was worth $246.6 million, inflated by an unprecedented $203 million stock option grant.

For 2022, Zaslav received a compensation package of $39.3 million, according to Variety, citing the filing made by Warner Bros. Discovery to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in March.

Zaslav's 2022 pay package included $3.1 million in salary, $12 million in stock awards, $1.4 million in stock option awards, $21.8 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation, and other compensation totaling $925,489.

According to Celebrity Net Worth, the WBD chief executive has a net worth of $200 million and received salaries worth $150 million.

Zaslav began making his mark in the media industry in 1989 when he joined NBC and became the president of cable and domestic TV and new media distribution. In 2006, he became the CEO of Discovery Communications and partnered with Oprah Winfrey to launch the Oprah Winfrey Network.

In May 2021, it was announced that Zaslav, then president and CEO of Discovery, would lead a proposed merger of Discovery with AT&T's WarnerMedia.

Television production was brought to a halt Tuesday when members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike after negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) failed to produce an agreement to avert the first walkout in 15 years.

In a statement, WGA's board of directors accused television producers of unfair pay. The writers' group added that the companies' "behavior has created a gig economy inside a union workforce," NBC News reported.

WGA statistics showed that the median writer-producer pay has declined by 4% in recent years, or 23% when adjusted for inflation.

In its defense, the trade association representing the studios, TV networks, and streaming platforms said it offered "generous increases in compensation for writers."

AMPTP added that the main "sticking points" to a deal included the guild's request that companies employ a certain number of writers for a specified period of time, whether needed or not.