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Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav follows the Bob Iger . channel


Discovery Communications CEO, David Zaslav

CNBC

Hollywood is about to receive an explosion of emotional intelligence.

David Zaslav, Discovery’s longtime chief executive officer, is now the official CEO of Discovery of Warner Bros. – culmination of unity announced last May. The newly incorporated company began trading on Nasdaq on Monday using its new token, WBD. Shares were little changed at $24.45 in late Monday morning trading.

Zaslav is not a newcomer in the field of communication. He has run Discovery Communications as CEO since 2006. Prior to that, he ran the domestic cable and television unit NBCUniversal. (Disclosure: Zaslav helped found CNBC.) Over the years, he has title for him overcompensation.

But he was never an executive in Hollywood. Most of Discovery’s shows are reality or nature-focused, such as “Shark Week”. Zaslav spent most of last year on a “listening tour” throughout Hollywoodprepare to run a company that includes Warner Bros. and HBO, home of Batman and “Game of Thrones,” respectively.

While his inexperience may alarm some investors, the unique combination of his experience as a veteran media CEO and new executive roles in Hollywood has could be the perfect recipe for the times, Lloyd Blankfein, former Goldman Sachs The CEO has known Zaslav for over a decade. Blankfein worked directly with Zaslav when Discovery hired Goldman to finance its merger with Scripps in 2017.

“Maybe this is the right time for a new man because the industry is changing so quickly,” says Blankfein. “In most contexts, experience is a great virtue. In a rapidly evolving industry, too much experience can be a liability. David is a rather unique combination – a kind of old media but also a new face.”

Zaslav was unavailable for comment for this story.

Personality over experience

Zaslav has the chance to step into a role that was previously played by the likes of former HBO executive Richard Plepler and former HBO executive Richard Plepler.Disney CEO Bob Iger: A chivalrous, high EQ CEO who can connect with Hollywood talent as a human as well as an entrepreneur.

Tom Freston, the former CEO of Viacom, who has been friends with Zaslav for more than two decades, said.

“He doesn’t have the creative touches like Iger and Plepler, but what he does have is a very high EQ,” says Freston. “He’s not going to be a know-it-all. He’s got great interpersonal skills.”

The time for Zaslav to flourish couldn’t be better than to prepare Hollywood talents. While Netflix leaders Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos are all veterans, Disney, Amazon, NBCUniversal and Paramount Global have all undergone top-level leadership changes in recent years. Unlike Iger, Disney CEO Bob Chapek is not known for his people skills. Outgoing WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar has admitted he didn’t do a good job of communicating decided to move all of its 2021 movies to HBO Max on the same day they hit theaters in pandemic caused by corona virus.

However, Zaslav needs to be aware of allowing executives already at WarnerMedia to control their divisions, Freston said. While Zaslav might want to have lunch with every Hollywood creative in Los Angeles (Zaslav move to specific LA to fit in with the entertainment community), he’ll need to make sure he doesn’t inadvertently alienate Casey Bloys, chief content officer at HBO and HBO Max, and Toby Emmerich, who runs Warner Bros.

“My advice to him is, meet as many people as you can, but you don’t want to deprive Toby and Casey and the others who report to him,” Freston said. “The agents are going to focus on him. He’s going to have to figure out a way to set up a barrier that doesn’t look like he’s blocking everyone out, but he’s also empowering his people to make decisions. determined instead of surpassing them.”

Zaslav also risks getting bogged down in Hollywood minutiae rather than focusing on running his company, which has some significant structural problems. New Discovery by Warner Bros. there will be $55 billion in debt, and that will potentially lead to job loss that can hurt company morale. WarnerMedia has gone through a number of job losses and CEO changes that has had a negative impact on the culture. One of Zaslav’s big tasks will be to remake the creative culture for a division run by a phone company since 2018.

David Zaslav

Anjali Sundaram | CNBC

Zaslav also needs to convince Wall Street that his company’s streaming strategy can compete with Netflix and Disney+ on a global scale. He’s yet to define what that strategy is, and he’ll need to balance that with a legacy cable network business that’s dying but still brings in billions of dollars a year.

“Iger did it successfully with Disney,” said former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, a longtime friend of Zaslav. “David is going to want to be Hollywood-centric for a few months or maybe the first year. This is a new regulator and he’s the head of that regulator. Then I think he’s going to be.” take a step back because he has a lot of work to do, and this company has a lot of things to fix.”

‘A full pizza in a box’

Zaslav is known as a connector of great personalities.

One of the first things that friends appreciate about him is his ability to connect intimately with people, even when surrounded by others. For years, Zaslav threw large parties for hundreds of people at his Hamptons home on Long Island, New York. He’s tried to invite people from finance, technology, media and other disciplines to mingle and network – and listen to famous musicians like Diana Ross, Rod Stewart and Earth, Wind & Fire, whom he would hire to perform at his home.

“He would get the food truck outside. One year I come home with a full pizza in the box,” says Freston. “He’s a humble guy, but throwing a party like that is an act of generosity on his part, possibly signaling his ambition.”

He also intends to send unusually high quality Explore themed swag photos to all types of people in the media and entertainment industry every year. Friends say they’re often surprised to receive fleece jackets, Bombas socks, popcorn machines and other plush stuffed animals in the mail each year in the Discovery gift basket for holidays and special events.

Carter said: “He’s Jackie O.

“He’s one of the most famous people I’ve ever met in my life. He probably wished he had a Wednesday meal of the day so he could meet more people,” Carter added. “He’s like one of Hollywood’s starters. He’s very comfortable out there.”

Outside of Hollywood, Zaslav will have to build trust with his own people. A former WarnerMedia executive says the biggest thing Zaslav can do is be animated. Letting Warner employees, including top executives, know that their work is appreciated and understood can be even more important than adding his own insight.

SEE: ‘I think the opportunity is outside the US’ Michael Nathanson on Warner Bros. Discovery.



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