It took months for Hollywood studios to reach an agreement with the Writers Guild of America and end the writers’ strike back in September, but Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav now concedes, “They are right about almost everything.” Zaslav sat down with The New York Times Magazine for a lengthy exclusive documenting his time running the conglomerate. The piece documents several PR debacles—including the tone-deaf party that Zaslav and former Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Graydon Carter threw at this year’s Cannes Film Festival while thousands of workers picketed. The 2023 strike was the second longest in history and did little to enhance Zaslav’s reputation—especially when comedian Adam Conover pointed out that the CEO’s 2021 pay was “about the same level as 10,000 writers are asking him to pay us collectively.” Now, however, Zaslav asks, “So what if we overpay? I’ve never regretted overpaying for great talent or a great asset.”
