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Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav largely evaded questions about NBA talks and Paramount Global’s potential as a Wbd merger partner, but he did weigh in on the hot topic of executive pay.

“All CEOs need to be paid with alignment with shareholders,” he declared. In 2023, a year when his company’s stock price hovered around $10 a share, less than half of its value when it began trading in 2022, Zaslav collected a total payday of $49.7 million, up more than $10 million from the prior year.

The comments came during a Milken Conference panel titled “The Corporate Compass: Charting the Role of the CEO.” Zaslav appeared alongside three other chief executives: Ey’s Carmine Di Sibio, Time magazine’s Jessica Sibley and FedEx’s Raj Subramaniam.

Throughout his nearly two decades in the corner office, Zaslav has often become enmeshed in controversy over executive compensation. In 2021, the year when he spearheaded...

Warner Bros. Discovery is staying on the sidelines of the Paramount Global acquisition drama — at least for now. That was the signal sent Monday by WB Discovery CEO David Zaslav during his appearance at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills.

Zaslav was pressed during the hourlong panel about the status of WB Discovery’s bid to extend its TV rights agreement with the NBA, and he was pointedly asked to defend the high levels of compensation for media CEOs, including himself. Zaslav came in for criticism last week when his 2023 comp package of about $49 million was disclosed after a year in which Wbd’s stock price sank by double digits.

“I think all CEOs need to be paid with alignment with shareholders,” Zaslav said. “And the majority of compensation should be aligned with the performance of the stock. And if the stock does well, then the CEO should...

The Oracle of Omaha has become a streaming star.

Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate’s moves are closely followed by the investment community, presides over the company’s annual meeting each spring. While every company has a shareholder event, Berkshire’s is something different. With 40,000 fervent attendees, it is equal parts financial forum, convention, rally and county fair. Held in non-pandemic times in the company’s Nebraska home base Omaha, it yields insights from the 90-year-old billionaire about his company’s portfolio and the broader markets.

Yahoo Finance will have exclusive global streaming rights to the 2021 meeting, its sixth straight year in that arrangement. This year’s edition, on May 1, will be virtual as it was in 2020 due to ongoing safety concerns about Covid-19. Buffett and other executives are set to appear online from an LA staging ground. Editor-in-chief Andy Serwer will be one of the few outsiders allowed in,...

Yahoo Finance’s Saturday stream of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting was also Yahoo Finance’s most-streamed broadcast so far this year, according to internal numbers shared with TheWrap. Global live streams on Yahoo’s network Saturday totaled 2.5 million, which was a year-over-year increase of 146%. An additional 3 million live streams came through Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, a year-over-year increase of 94%. It even spawned a Twitter trending topic, #YFBuffett. In 2019, viewers watched Yahoo Finance’s stream of the shareholder meeting for about 16.3 minutes on average. This year, there was an increase of 19%, as viewers tuned in longer, averaging about 19.2 minutes across platforms and Ott. Those who watched on desktops this year tuned in for about 60.3 minutes each, on average, while mobile users watched for about 21.4 minutes. Also Read: Yahoo Finance Editor in Chief Andy Serwer Talks 'Obstacles' to Remote Streaming Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting The trends track with...

One of Jeff Zucker's first acts as CNN president was to toss out the previous regime's Big Idea -- and he's not afraid who knows it. "When I came in, one of the slogans at CNN was that 'CNN equals politics,'" Zucker told Fortune's Andy Serwer at Brainstorm Tech's 2013 conference on Tuesday. "And I said -- I put a line through that and said that CNN does not equal politics. Obviously, politics is a huge part of what we do and will continue to be. But really, that has to be...

Ari Emanuel isn’t a “lunatic,” he is “unbelievably loyal,” according to his Wme partner Patrick Whitesell. Whitesell, who, along with Emanuel, is co-ceo of Wme, was put in the position of defending his agency partner Monday while speaking at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech 2013 conference in Aspen, Colo. Photos: Secrets of Hollywood Agency Mailrooms “You have a co-ceo that kind of has a high profile,” Fortune managing editor Andy Serwer said about six minutes into a 31-minute recorded interview. “I’m sure everyone wants to know: What the hell is that like, working with Ari? You

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If you were worried that Ari Emanuel's recent antics have shaken his relationship with his Wme co-ceo Patrick Whitesell, worry no more. Whitesell gave mad love to his unpredictable colleague on Monday, calling him a "phenomenal partner, super creative, unbelievably loyal, and not afraid of failure." To which Andy Serwer, the managing editor of Fortune, responded skeptically, "He's a little unusual." Also read: The Ari Emanuel Vs Irving Azoff Emails: 'I Keep Grudges for a Lifetime' (Exclusive) Serwer interviewed Whitesell at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference that opened in Aspen on Monday about...

Kirk Cameron says that speaking the "truth" about gays is "love speech." Some of his past truths have included calling homosexuality “destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization" and calliing gays "unnatural." Now he says “The truth is always love speech, it’s not hate speech. The truth, communicated with compassion, with the desire to see people in a right relationship with God, helped, and healed, and whole, is the most genuine form of love speech you can give to anyone.” Hey Kirk – kids are dying from love over here.

We're still a ways from the release of Monsters University, but Pixar has launched a stunning site for the university portrayed in the movie, from fraternity life to applications that you can spend several hours exploring.

The Obama administration has followed through on their promise to provide written guidance for immigration officials to consider same-sex "family structures" in deportation cases.

The Devil Wears Pinstripes? Anna Wintour had no interest in coaching Meryl Streep for her role in "The Devil Wears Prada." That's not the case with Fortune magazine's top editor Andy Serwer and "Confessions of a Shopaholic," which opens Friday, starring Hugh Dancy and Sacha Baron Cohen's wife, Isla Fisher. Dancy, who plays a business magazine editor, got tutored for the role by Serwer at the Fortune offices. Serwer - who's...