Dive Brief:
- Warner Bros. Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels is receiving a bump in his base salary, as well as a one-time restricted stock unit award with a value of $2 million under a new compensation agreement, according to a Thursday securities filing.
- The new agreement increases Wiedenfels’s base salary to $2.5 million, and extends his contract with the media company to April 28, 2028, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
- Wiedenfels’s annual bonus opportunity will remain at 175% of his base salary, with payout based on achievement of performance objectives, according to the filing. He will also be eligible to receive annual equity awards with a target value of $10 million.
Dive Insight:
Wiedenfels took on Warner’s CFO role following the Burbank, Calif.-based company’s acquisition of Discovery Inc. in April 2022, after five years in Discovery’s top financial seat, according to his LinkedIn profile.
For the full year 2025, Wiedenfels received total compensation of approximately $17.7 million, according to Warner Bros.’ latest proxy statement. That included an annual base salary of $2.1 million, about $8 million in stock awards and $5.2 million in non-equity incentive compensation, according to the proxy.
The compensation bump comes as Warner Bros. navigates an upcoming mega-merger with fellow media company Paramount Skydance, which in February finalized an agreement to acquire Warner Bros. after months of fraught negotiations, according to a press release.
Subject to regulatory scrutiny, the company is set to acquire Warner Bros. for $31 a share, funded in part by a $47 billion “committed investment” from Redbird Capital Partners as well as the Ellison family — led by Oracle founder Larry Ellison and his son David Ellison, who serves as Chairman and CEO of Paramount, according to the Feb. 27 press release.
The deal, including debt, values the company at $110 billion. Warner Bros. shareholders approved the merger last week.
However, the deal has received pushback both from regulators and consumers, with lawmakers announcing they would scrutinize the potential mega-merger heavily. In a Feb. 26 post on X, California Attorney General Rob Bonta noted the merger is “not a done deal” and that the California Department of Justice intends to be “vigorous in our review.”
Paramount subscribers, meanwhile, have also raised concerns about the mega-merger on antitrust grounds. Five plaintiffs filed suit Thursday in a California court, arguing the potential deal will significantly reduce competition for streaming, news and other media distribution, according to the complaint.
The five plaintiffs — who are asking the court to issue an order blocking the merger — pointed to the $8 billion acquisition of Paramount by Skydance Media last year as an example of similar antitrust violations.
That deal, which closed in August, “lessened competition and had anticompetitive effects, including increased prices, decreased quality and decreased consumer choice,” according to the complaint.
