Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav Sells Shares, Exercises Options

What Happened

• David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), exercised stock options and sold the resulting shares in open-market transactions executed Aug 13–14, 2026. He exercised a total of 873,266 options at a $10.16 strike (cost ≈ $8.87M) and sold the corresponding shares plus an additional 94,906 shares, generating total gross proceeds of about $27.12M.
• Sales were executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan (per the filing). Some report lines show $0 for derivative disposals — those reflect conversion/exercise reporting and are not separate cash receipts.

Key Details

• Transaction dates: Aug 13, 2026 and Aug 14, 2026.
• Option exercises (code M): 678,267 shares on 8/13 at $10.16 (≈ $6,891,193); 194,999 shares on 8/14 at $10.16 (≈ $1,981,190).
• Open-market sales (code S): 94,906 shares on 8/13 at $28.00 (≈ $2,657,368); 678,267 shares on 8/13 at weighted avg $28.01 (≈ $18,998,259; prices ranged $28.00–$28.07 per F2); 194,999 shares on 8/14 at weighted avg $28.02 (≈ $5,463,872; prices ranged $28.00–$28.15 per F3).
• Total exercised (acquired) shares: 873,266; total shares sold: 967,472. Total exercise outlay ≈ $8.87M; total sales proceeds ≈ $27.12M.
• Shares owned after the transactions: not specified in the provided filing data.
• Footnotes: Sales were made pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement (F1). Price notes F2/F3 indicate the reported sale prices are weighted averages across price ranges; the filer will provide a per-price breakdown on request. F4 explains the exercised options came from a 6/12/2025 grant (20,898,776 options, vesting in five equal annual installments) and that performance hurdles for 60% were already satisfied.

Context

• This was an exercise-and-sell sequence (options exercised at $10.16 and the shares sold at about $28), effectively a cashless exercise—common when executives monetize vested option grants.
• Sales executed under a 10b5-1 plan are pre-arranged and often viewed as routine, not necessarily an active signal about the insider’s view of the company.
• The filing was submitted on Aug 14, 2026 for trades occurring Aug 13–14, 2026 (the filing does not appear late based on the provided dates).