A majority of Warner Bros Discovery shareholders voted against the 2024 pay packages of CEO David Zaslav and other top executives at the media conglomerate’s annual stockholder meeting, a Tuesday regulatory filing showed.
The board of directors had recommended shareholders to vote in favor of the 2024 executive compensation; however, more than 59% of them rejected the proposal on a non-binding basis.
For 2024, Zaslav’s total compensation rose 4% from the prior year to $51.9 million.
Warner Bros Discovery has been struggling to stem declines in its cable TV business amid widespread cord-cutting, focusing instead on its faster-growing streaming and studios divisions.
Last month, it missed first-quarter revenue estimates and posted a larger-than-expected loss.
The company is also moving towards a potential breakup, CNBC reported last month. WBD had laid the groundwork for a possible sale or spinoff of its declining cable TV assets last December by announcing a separation from its streaming and studio operations.
Powered by a strong content slate, including the third season of HBO’s “The White Lotus” and the medical drama series “The Pitt,” WBD added 5.3 million streaming subscribers in the January-March quarter, beating market expectations, but still far off from streaming industry leader Netflix.
The company last month also walked back on the branding of its streaming service, Max, bringing back the HBO name it dropped two years ago.
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