David Zaslav: Last News

After 15 years at Warner Bros, and four as the President of DC Films, Walter Hamada has finally left the Burbank, CA lot as sources tell Deadline the exec waits for the senior Warner Discovery brass to finalize his exit payout. Hamada has run DC since 2018, and reupped in January 2021 with a contract that was supposed to take him through 2023.

Tom Brady is riding solo at a wedding!

A solo date? Tom Brady attended a wedding without Gisele Bündchen. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback was seen alone at his former team owner’s wedding in New York City.

The Warner Bros. Discovery layoffs continue.

Warner Bros Television is cutting more than a quarter of its workforce as part of its parent company’s drive to cut costs.

HBO and HBO Max Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys has a new title, Chairman and CEO, HBO and HBO Max Content.

William Earl Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav assured staffers across Warner Bros. Discovery on Wednesday that the company is not on the auction block. The chairman-CEO of the newly merged entity made his remarks at a company-wide town hall meeting that was beamed out via Zoom to WB Discovery’s 40,000 employees worldwide. Zaslav’s comments came in response to a question from an employee. WB Discovery was formed in April by the merger of AT&T’s WarnerMedia and the Zaslav-led Discovery. There’s been speculation about more M&A to come for the conglomerate since before the merger agreement was completed. “We are not for sale,” Zaslav told employees during the 75-minute session. “We have everything we need to be successful.”

Refresh for more: The top brass at Warner Bros Discovery held a company-wide town hall Wednesday over Zoom in which they laid out the current state of the company and the industry, acknowledging the hard times amid a slew of cost-cutting and layoffs and emphatically addressing merger rumors with CEO David Zaslav exclaiming, “We are not for sale, absolutely, not for sale.”

Selome Hailu Warner Bros. Discovery is expansing its “Turn Up! Fight Hunger” campaign, a partnership with No Kid Hungry. The news comes timed to company’s participation in the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health on Wednesday. After an initial pledge in 2018 to donate 1 billion meals to children in need in five years’ time and meeting that goal early in 2021, WBD has upped their promise to 2 billion meals. Including the number already donated, the 2 billion total is set to be reached by September 2023. The program began after Gloria Steinem advised CEO David Zaslav to promote some kind of social good upon hearing that Discovery brands (before the merger with Warner Bros.) reached 25% of American women each night. The company has since utilized that reach with easy-to-access action items, like encouraging viewers across platforms like the Food Network and HGTV to donate by texting the word “hungry” to 707070. The money raised allows for schools, food banks and other community groups to buy not only food, but essential resources such as delivery trucks and protective gear for workers.

Marc Graboff is leaving Warner Bros. Discovery after almost eight years at the company and its predecessor, Discovery. Inc.  Graboff, a respected veteran television business executive, just notified the company staff of his decision. A key member of the senior executive team of David Zaslav, CEO of Discovery — and now WBD —  Graboff made the transition to the combined company following the merger of Discovery and WarnerMedia. Most recently reporting to Kathleen Finch, Chairman and Chief Content Officer, US Networks Group, Graboff will leave in December after assisting with the transition.

After a near month of mudslinging behind the scenes drama for Don’t Worry Darling which hovered around its Venice Film Festival world premiere, the sophomore feature directorial from Olivia Wilde finally opens in 4,000 theaters.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Marc Graboff has decided to exit as president of global business and legal affairs and content supply chain at the legacy Discovery side of Warner Bros. Discovery, Variety has learned exclusively. The NBCUniversal alum will step down from his position at the end of the year. “Marc approached every challenging business negotiation with affability, professionalism and attention to detail, and his expertise will be sorely missed,” Kathleen Finch, chairman and chief content officer of the US Networks Group at Warner Bros Discovery, said Tuesday. “We are grateful for his invaluable support and the terrific partnership he’s brought throughout his years of service.” 

Keanu Reeves returning to the Constantine franchise, as revealed by Deadline earlier this afternoon, has thrown up some dust in the TV business.

EXCLUSIVE: Keeping in line with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s business belief that movies are destined for theatrical, not streaming, the originally conceived Steven Soderbergh directed HBO Max threequel Magic Mike’s Last Dance is heading to theaters on Feb. 10, 2023 – Super Bowl weekend. Warner Bros. already had the date set aside on the release calendar.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery enacted 100 layoffs Tuesday as part of a planned downsizing of the company’s ad sales departments that had been in the works since Discovery closed its merger with WarnerMedia in April, Variety has confirmed. These cuts are part of a previously reported and expected 30% reduction overall across the ad sales division, a sector of the merged company with many redundancies, in the coming weeks. However, not all of the exits will be layoffs, according to an individual with knowledge of the situation. An undisclosed number of those departures will be negotiated deals, while others will be retirements. The layoffs set in motion Tuesday are the latest in a string of moves made by Warner Bros. Discovery in an attempt to fulfill the promise made by CEO David Zaslav and his exec team to find $3 billion in cost-saving synergies in the first two years after the merger. The most high profile so far, aside from other layoffs within Warner Bros. Discovery, was the decision that “Batgirl,” the $90 million Warner Bros./DC movie starring Leslie Grace as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, would not be released theatrically, on HBO Max, or anywhere else. 

The surprising decision last month to shelve completed DC movie Batgirl was “blown out of proportion” by the press, according to Warner Bros Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels.

“I don’t think all streamers are created equal, “ Bob Iger bluntly said today at the 2022 Code Conference. “I don’t think they’ll all make it.”

Dan Lin is not going to take the DC job, after all. Back to the drawing board for David Zaslav and Warner Bros Discovery.

It was a “bittersweet” night for the team behind Full Frontal With Samantha Bee.

Ethan Shanfeld Courtenay Valenti, president of production and development for Warner Bros. Pictures, will depart from the studio after 33 years. Valenti will carry out her role until the end of October. “We’ve known Courtenay and been admirers of her work for many years,” said Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, co-chairs and CEOs of Warner Bros. Pictures Group, in a joint statement provided to Variety. “She’s been an integral part of Warner Bros. Pictures’ success for over three decades and has had a hand in guiding some of the studio’s most popular and successful films. She’s well-respected across the creative community, she’s beloved here on the lot, and she will be greatly missed. We know that she’ll be hugely successful in her next endeavor and join all of her colleagues in wishing her the very best.”  

There won’t be a DC Fandome virtual confab this year.