The CEO of Silver Spring-based Discovery Communications received $156.1 million in compensation last year, according to a company filing submitted Friday to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The filing revealed David Zaslav, 55, received a $145 million stock and options award as part of entering into a new six-year employment agreement last year. Most of that stock package will be awarded to Zaslav if the company’s stock achieves specific performance measures over the next six years. He also received $3 million in salary, $6.1 million in incentive awards and $1.9 million for aircraft use and security.
The company defended the package in the filing, saying Zaslav “has done an outstanding job leading Discovery” over the previous seven years.
“Under his leadership, our market capitalization has risen from $5 billion to $20 billion, our global portfolio of television networks has expanded from reaching approximately 280 million cumulative worldwide subscribers in 2008 to nearly 2.6 billion cumulative worldwide subscribers, and our award-winning content has continued to draw growing audiences around the world,” the company wrote.
The contract ties Zaslav’s stock awards with the company’s performance. So he may not make the full $156 million if the company’s stock falls below certain targets, but he could make even more if the stock does well.
Discovery Communications operates popular U.S. television networks such as Discovery, TLC, Animal Planet, the Science Channel and Investigation Discovery. The company is based at 1 Discovery Place in downtown Silver Spring.
