Eight Months Ago, The Newhouse Family Made A Catastrophic Mistake With A Huge Chunk of Their Warner Bros. Discovery Shares

For years, John Malone, David Zaslav, and the Newhouse family have been the power constellation behind Warner Bros. Discovery.

• Malone has been the company's architect and longtime strategic mind.
• Zaslav served as its polarizing CEO and highest-paid face.
• The Newhouses were the company's single largest shareholder bloc.

Together, they have ridden out soaring highs and brutal lows. When Warner Bros. Discovery was spun off from AT&T in 2022, it entered the market with a valuation of nearly $60 billion. Within eighteen months, it had lost nearly two-thirds of its value. Debt ballooned. The stock crumbled. Warner was cutting projects, shelving finished films, and navigating strikes that shut down Hollywood. Yet inside that storm, Zaslav continued earning compensation packages that routinely topped $40–50 million a year, sparking shareholder revolts and widespread industry outrage. Meanwhile, Malone and the Newhouses watched their stakes erode along with the company's battered market cap.

But fortunes in media can reverse fast — and sometimes violently.

In early December 2025, Warner Bros. suddenly became the centerpiece of an escalating bidding war.

Before the bidding war commenced, Warner Bros. Discovery's stock price was languishing at around $11 per share. At that level, the company's market cap was around $18 billion.

Netflix struck first when Warner Bros. Discovery came into play, offering to buy the studio and streaming assets for $27.75 per share, a roughly $72 billion valuation.

Three days later, Paramount Skydance detonated the process with a hostile $108 billion all-cash bid for the entire company, which worked out to $30 per share. There was some back and forth for a few weeks, but ultimately, the bidding war was won by Paramount Skydance with an updated offer of $31 per share, a $111 billion valuation. FYI: Paramount is run by the 43-year-old David Ellison, whose father, Larry Ellison, chipped in a cool $45 billion personal guarantee to get the deal done.

It's a huge deal (literally and metaphorically) for anyone who holds Warner Bros. Discovery shares. David Zaslav and John Malone will walk away with enormous windfalls. As for the Newhouse family, they absolutely will make a killing. But it could have been a much larger killing had they not made an absolutely terrible decision just a few months ago…

The Newhouse Family

The Newhouse family, led by 96-year-old patriarch Donald Newhouse, traces its massive stake in Warner Bros. Discovery back to the 1990s. Through their holding company, Advance Publications, the family was a cornerstone investor in Discovery Communications long before it became a global titan. When Discovery absorbed WarnerMedia in 2022, the Newhouses emerged as the single largest individual shareholder bloc in the combined company, controlling over 8% of WBD.

If the family had simply held onto that original stake, the $31.00 per share Paramount-Skydance payout would have been worth a staggering $6.1 billion. Unfortunately, the family fell victim to what might be the worst timing in corporate history.

In late June 2025, with WBD stock languishing at all-time lows and the industry in a panic, the Newhouses decided to de-risk. They sold 100 million shares—roughly half their position—for $10.97 per share. That sale generated $1.1 billion in cash.

Today, just eight months later, those same 100 million shares would be worth $3.1 billion under the Paramount bid.

By selling early, the family essentially left $2 billion on the table. To put that in perspective, the Netflix offer surfaced just 150 days after they sold. Had they waited a mere five months, their bank account would be $2,000,000,000 heavier.

Don't feel too bad for them, though. The Newhouses still held onto approximately 98 million shares. At the $31.00 deal price, that remaining stake is worth $3.03 billion. When you add in the $1.1 billion they pocketed in June, the family is still walking away with a total of $4.13 billion.

It is a massive win by any standard, but it's a "what if" that will likely haunt their accountants for decades. If you assume the 30 extended members of the Newhouse family were splitting the proceeds, each member is walking away with roughly $137 million. Had they held for just 150 more days, that check would have been over $200 million per person.

David Zaslav and Donald Newhouse (Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for AFTD)

David Zaslav – $887 Million Windfall

For nearly two decades, Zaslav has been one of the highest-paid executives in the United States, even as the company he led cycled through turmoil, debt pressure, creative unrest, and a collapsing share price. Since 2009 alone, Zaslav has made more than $670 million in salary and bonuses. Here is the breakdown of his annual total comp since 2009:

• $11.7 million (2009)
• $42.6 million (2010)
• $152 million (2014)
• $129.4 million (2018)
• $246.6 million (2021)
• $39 million (2022)
• $50 million (2023)

In 2025, the WBD board extended his contract through 2030, granting him 23 million low-strike options ($10.16 strike price) with a crucial "change in control" trigger. When Paramount-Skydance finalized their $31.00 per share bid in early 2026, those options—which would have normally taken years to vest—hit the jackpot instantly.

According to WBD's March 2026 SEC filing, Zaslav's total "Golden Parachute" compensation is estimated at $887 million. Here is the breakdown:

• Equity Value: $517.2 million (representing his shares and the massive "spread" on those 23 million options).
• Cash Severance: $34.2 million in salary and bonus buyouts.
• The Tax "Gross-Up": In a staggering move, the company is providing a $335.4 million tax reimbursement. This payment effectively covers the excise taxes Zaslav would owe on such a massive windfall, ensuring his take-home pay remains astronomical.
• Benefits: $44,195 in continued health coverage reimbursements.

With a previous net worth estimated at $600 million, this nearly $900 million pre-tax payout officially catapults David Zaslav into the billionaire ranks as he exits the stage of the traditional media era.

Now, let's turn to John Malone.

John Malone – $558 Million Payday

If David Zaslav was the face of the deal, John Malone was its architect. The Discovery–WarnerMedia combination was one of his signature "complexity plays," and while he watched his stake lose two-thirds of its value in 2023 and 2024, Malone's legendary patience finally paid off.

Unlike Zaslav, Malone's windfall isn't tied to complex severance packages or tax gross-ups; it is a story of pure equity. Malone holds roughly 18 million shares of WBD.

• The Recovery: When WBD was languishing at $11 per share in mid-2025, Malone's stake was worth roughly $198 million.
• The Netflix Bump: Under Netflix's $27.75 offer, that value jumped to $500 million.
• The Paramount Peak: At the final $31.00 Paramount-Skydance acquisition price, Malone's 18 million shares are worth $558 million.

For Malone, the bidding war added $360 million in personal wealth in just a few months. While he doesn't receive the "Golden Parachute" cash that Zaslav does, Malone exits with over half a billion dollars in liquid capital and the satisfaction of seeing his "strategic construction" sold for a massive premium—even if it meant handing the keys to a 43-year-old David Ellison.