David Zaslav — Warner Bros. Discovery ($247 Million)

Zaslav pocketed $247 million in his first year running the merged Warner Bros. Discovery while slashing content budgets and canceling near-finished films like 'Batgirl.' This package is 2.5x larger than David Zaslav himself — in fact, the same $247 million that Sundar Pichai received at #3, but here it accompanied a stock price collapse that wiped out $40 billion in market value. The payout represents 8 times the average of his peers at major media companies, according to Equilar data. While Pichai's payout sparked debate over timing, Zaslav's drew fire for value destruction, making it a stark case of reward without performance.