- "The idea that somehow enforcement has been politicized is ludicrous," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Omeed Assefi in an interview to Reuters.
- According to a Bloomberg report, WBD’s CEO David Zaslav could make more than $667.2 million if WBD’s sale to Paramount Skydance goes through.
- The payments include $34.2 million in cash severance, $115.8 million in vested stock awards and $517.2 million in share awards, per Bloomberg report.
Paramount Skydance's (PSKY) proposed acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) will "absolutely not" have a fast track to approval because of political factors, the head of the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust division reportedly said.
"The idea that somehow enforcement has been politicized is ludicrous," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Omeed Assefi in an interview to Reuters.
"I think even Ted Sarandos has been very vocal about the fact that he had a very open and fair and thorough review under us," Assefi added, referring to the CEO of Netflix (NFLX).
Zaslav’s Pay
According to a Bloomberg report that cited a company filing on Tuesday, Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav could make more than $667.2 million if WBD’s sale to Paramount Skydance goes through.
The payments include $34.2 million in cash severance, $115.8 million in vested stock awards, and $517.2 million in share awards that will be triggered by the deal, as per the report.
As per the report, Zaslev sold WBD shares worth $113 million earlier this month.
WBD’s Deal
Earlier in March, Paramount and Warner Bros. agreed to a deal under which Paramount will pay $111 billion or $31-a-share to buy the company.
Netflix at the time had said in a separate statement that it declined to raise its offer for Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. agreed in December to sell its studio and streaming businesses to Netflix for $27.75 per share. The deal has a total enterprise value of about $82.7 billion.
Retail Reaction
Retail sentiment on Stocktwits around PSKY and WBD trended in ‘bearish’ and ‘extremely bearish’ territory.
Shares of PSKY and WBD are down 33% and 5% respectively, so far in 2026.
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