from the nice-work-if-you-can-get-it dept
I’ve written so much concerning the AOL–>AT&T–>Time Warner–>Discovery mergers just because I believe they completely encapsulate the pointless, damaging incompetence on the coronary heart of contemporary media consolidation, and the cannibalistic nature of Wall Avenue’s obsession with illusory quarterly development propped up by smoke, mirrors, and complicated accounting.
Ever for the reason that authentic AOL Time Warner merger again in 2001, an countless wave of pointless mergers promised no restrict of modern “synergies,” however as an alternative resulted in greater than 50,000 layoffs, shittier product, increased costs, the demise of a ton of well-loved manufacturers and IPs, many years of chaos, a decline in high quality journalism, and a bottomless properly of shit.
On the coronary heart of this enshittification (a minimum of the newer mergers involving AT&T and Discovery) has sat Warner Brothers CEO David Zaslav. Just like the AT&T execs earlier than him, Zaslav has seen completely zero accountability for this chaos, and, the truth is, has been repeatedly rewarded with a collection of large compensation packages that in completely no manner replicate his competency.
With Netflix and Paramount (CBS) now scrapping over the remnants of Warner Brothers’ carcass, Zaslav stands to money out with a golden parachute for the ages. All informed, it’s anticipated that Zaslav is ready to see $567 million in money and different buyout choices:
“Zaslav will obtain $30 million in “golden parachute” compensation, together with $537 million in fairness, for a complete of $567 million in a transaction-associated pay, per the Wednesday submitting. Zaslav has led Warners because it formally merged with Discovery in 2022 following a $43 billion spinoff from then-owner AT&T.”
Now you is perhaps inclined to say one thing like, “properly he’s being justly compensated by the extraction class for his profitable efforts to cannibalize the model and usher it by a collection of consolidative offers that had been in the very best pursuits of shareholders.”
However that’s probably not true.
The countless chaos created by “development for development sake” mergers might present momentary inventory boosts and tax breaks, nevertheless it concurrently has generated no restrict of ailing will amongst customers (one thing Zaslav typically pretends to acknowledge), large inventory fluctuations, an enormous expertise drain, numerous wasted time and money, important animosity amongst creatives, and important hurt to core manufacturers (like HBO and CNN).
It’s the extraction class abusing the foundations of the sport to fake to be good at enterprise. They’re not truly constructing something helpful, or remotely within the longevity of the corporate, its prospects, the expertise that powers it, or the individuals who work there. They’re enjoying with humorous numbers to attempt to perpetually generate the phantasm of unattainable everlasting development at unbelievable scale, then cashing out when the examine lastly comes due for his or her sophisticated shell video games.
This, after all, gained’t finish right here. Whichever firm (CBS or Netflix) buys Warner Brothers will initially promise an ocean of recent “consolidative synergies” earlier than inevitably slicing, burning, and slashing sources, workers, and product high quality to attempt to repay debt from extra pointless M&A and goose earnings pissed off by pissed off buyer churn and saturated streaming development.
Due to senseless deregulation of the markets and our adoration of artifice, there’s no monetary incentive to do something in another way or study from expertise, which leads to these people partaking in the identical habits time and again. At the very least till a very extreme market crash happens, at which level, guys like Zaslav can be nowhere to be discovered and properly insulated from the real-world hurt they helped trigger.
Filed Underneath: compensation, david zaslav, enshittification, media, mergers
Firms: warner bros. discovery
