Two and a half months after Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav touted the deal to sell Warner Bros. to Netflix at a Dec. 5 town hall, he tried to do the same this morning about the studio’s new buyer, Paramount.

The Friday 8 AM PT WBD Zoom town hall was shorter — it lasted just over 20 min — and the mood was very different, with employees still reeling from the shocking news yesterday that Netflix dropped out after Warner Bros. Discovery went for Paramount’s “superior offer.”

“The mood is really bad,” one staffer said, sharing widespread disappointment among rank-and-file by the outcome.

“We’re the envy of all of the industry,” was Zaslav’s topline at the town hall, in which he was joined by Chief Revenue and Strategy Officer Bruce Campbell and CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels.

They started by walking staffers through the process of Paramount’s courtship, and how they went from $19/share to $31/share in the bid. The trio acknowledged that they are still wrapping their heads around the turnaround and were surprised by the speed with which it came together; Zaslav called it “whiplashy,” one source said.

An employee called the trio’s performance “tenuous and timid.”

“You can tell that there was a level of sheepishness trying to sell that bigger is better,” the person said.

Another source told us that Zaslav aimed to be sincere, but his words felt a bit tone deaf when he told employees that buyers want WBD “because of all of you” and seemingly credited the two rounds of layoffs for improving the company’s financial standing.

For staffers, that was a reminder of what is likely to come, with job cuts anticipated if the Paramount-WBD merger goes through. One person noted that they have been watching in horror how David Ellison‘s new regime at Paramount “took a knife” to Paramount Global staff. “People are scared,” the person said.

Accounts vary about how Zaslav addressed the recent success of the Warner Bros. movie and TV studios, HBO and HBO Max.

Some claimed that he made a “grating” comment that “we turned this company around,” referring to the WBD leadership. Others said that Zaslav credited the individual teams for rebuilding the movie and TV studio and building up the streaming platform.

Wiedenfels, who sources said looked “shaken,” found himself in a very different position vs. the December town hall, from poised to lead spinoff company Discovery Global had the Netflix deal gone through to serving as CFO during a WBD wholesale to Paramount.

The sharp turn also has triggered fears among staffers about the future of CNN, which would’ve been part of Discovery Global. It is now poised to be under the control of Paramount, which already has been making some controversial changes at CBS News.

“Ted didn’t need the deal, the country needed it because of CNN,” one WBD employee said, a likely reference to Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters’ comment after declining to raise their offer for WBD, “This transaction was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price.”

Overall, the town hall was described as “cringeworthy,” with participants saying they walked away from it “shocked” and “melting down.”

While we hear staffers were given an option to submit questions per standard practice, no questions were taken at the town hall.

“People could not believe they took no questions from employees. Amazing how out of touch they are,” one person said.

The town hall followed a WBD leadership meeting at 7 AM PT. There was an opportunity for questions at it, yet none were asked.

“The silence says it all,” one source said.

Anthony D’Alessandro and Dade Hayes contributed to this report.