David Zaslav Wants a Friendlier Relationship With Trump, Was Told to Be More Like Jeff Bezos

David Zaslav is expect for friends . Well , one friend , specifically : the guy wire who presently holds all of the levers of exponent , including ones that could significantly bear upon his business , Warner Bros. Discovery . According to a profile from New York Magazine , the capitulum of WBD knows that his industriousness is on shaky ground and he ’s count to cozy up to Donald Trump as a substance of endurance .

Zaslav is n’t the first to have this idea . The tech billionaires likeMark Zuckerbergand Elon Musk have certainly managed to solidify their placement through some unblushing pandering , and it’sworked out fairly wellfor them ( so far , at least — we’ll see if Zuck can leverage his friendly relationship towriggle out of an antitrust lawsuit ) . But , per New York Magazine , a person in Trump ’s orbit has a dissimilar technical school god - Billie Jean Moffitt King for Zaslav to mold : Jeff Bezos .

The parallel is pretty dewy-eyed . Bezos has used his media arm to make decent with Trump , mostly by flatter his family and giving them a lot of money — including ponying up$40 million for a Melania Trump documentarythat she ’ll serve as a producer on . Zaslav has basically nothing but airtime to offer , and Trump loves flattering coverage from the media . mesmerism provided to Zaslav , per NYMag , include a hunting and fishing show starring Donald Trump , Jr. ( that ’d be enthralling , given his penchant for allegedlyillegalandunethicalhunting tactic ) and adding more pro - Trump voices to the WBD - owned CNN .

David Zaslav standing in front of a sign reading Max

David Zaslav standing in front of a sign reading Max© Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Sucking up to Trump this manner would likely come across as extremely gauze-like favor - trading , but what ’s a chief executive officer to do ? Plus , Zaslav might have some business he ’d probably like to fast - data track through approval if he can . Last twelvemonth , hetold Bloombergthat he was hope the next president would land a newfangled posture to merger because “ We just need an opportunity for deregulation , so companies can consolidate and do what we need to to be even good . ”

It ’s not clear if WBD has any attainment targets in nous at the moment , though it does seem he ’s willing to do whatever he needs to keep the company going ( except take a pay deletion , seeing as hetook home $ 52 million last year ) . And if you require to do a media heap , you ’ll in spades need Trump on your side . When Time Warner was go to deal to AT&T during Trump ’s first term , hetried to ill-treat in to parry it . And just last Nox , hecalledfor the FCC to ticket and potentially pull the license of CBS over a “ 60 Minutes ” segment he did n’t care .

So keep your eyes clear for “ Hunted To defunctness , ” a unexampled show where Donald Trump , Jr. pour down the last of an endangered species every week , coming soon to Max .

Tina Romero Instagram