The Zaslav Rules

Appearing before the press Tuesday afternoon at a media event unveiling Skydance, David Ellison seemed ready to end the battle.  

For most of the past year, as Paramount sought to acquire Warner Bros., Ellison has been seen mostly through rumors, threats, leaks, whispers and one op-ed — hidden behind the company’s legal, political and financial maneuvers.

So when the man himself stepped into the spotlight — inside a soundstage on the Paramount lot — and appeared measured, calm, and surprisingly conciliatory toward those who had opposed the merger, I took it as a good sign. (He didn’t look me in the eye, but I pretended it was all meant for me.)

Ellison said he understood the fears of those who worried for the future and cared about Warner Bros.’ history and legacy, and that he hoped he’d prove to be a good steward.

He also talked about the toll this year has taken, admitting it hasn’t been easy — a truth you could see in his eyes.  

Which, you know, you don’t hear a lot of moguls admitting these days — that public brouhahas can touch them on Mount Olympus.

So, this week, as we beat our swords into plowshares, it was nice to hear that acknowledged. Much is to come, of course, but it’s a good place to start as we move from the question of “should this company exist?” to “how can this company succeed and raise the tide for all boats?”

Disagreements and squabbles are coming aplenty, but after a year of division and strife, we look forward wearily.

But if this mostly orderly transition was impossible to see just two weeks ago, the quiet, undramatic departure of the man who has swallowed more headlines than every other mogul combined would have been even less foreseeable: David Zaslav.

After half a decade front and center, Zaslav exited stage left — outrageously richer (he received $606 million from the sale alone) and with a straightforward, fairly generic video message to his staff (watch it at the link).

As they say at Warner Bros. (a Skydance Company)…

It’s as though, in his last week on the job, he finally figured out how to not make himself the center of every story.

Which, looking ahead, leads us to the all-important question — who will be the next mogul in the press hot seat?

Because there always is one.