The announced merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery has spotlighted Discovery CEO David Zaslav — as well as his longtime friendship with one of WarnerMedia's most influential executives, CNN chief executive Jeff Zucker.

Zucker had previously said he planned to leave CNN at the end of this year. But Zaslav is expecting to lead the new company when the deal closes next year, spurring speculation that Zucker will remain with the newly combined entity.

"Zaslav will give Jeff Zucker new life," predicted Greg D'Alba, the former president of CNN News Networks, who has worked closely with Zucker. "I think they could put him in charge of entertainment and sports. Any contemplation of him leaving I am sure is now gone."

Zaslav and Zucker go way back, having negotiated cable carriage deals and new media distribution for GE-owned NBCUniversal's channels two decades ago, while Zucker was CEO of NBC Universal TV Group and Zaslav was his president of NBC Universal cable and domestic TV.

They're also Hamptons neighbors and golfing buddies, and Zaslav's daughter, Ali Zaslav, is a producer in Washington for CNN.

Zucker's departure now seems to be a question mark, given the new ownership structure of the proposed WarnerMedia-Discovery combination.

The deal is meant to create a media company that can compete with Netflix and Disney. For Zucker, there could be an allure to competing against Disney, the leader in sports content in the US. Discovery, meanwhile, owns Olympic rights in 50 countries as well as rights to golf and tennis.

Tom Rogers, who was the first president of NBC Cable and knows both men, recalls David Zaslav leaving NBCUniversal to become chief executive of Discovery 15 years ago.

"Jeff tried to hold on to him by suggesting any number of responsibilities, but the appeal of running his own business was too great," he said. "But the two stayed in close contact since then."

Now the situation could be reversed. "I wouldn't be surprised if Jeff Zucker has rethought his future plans," Rogers said.

The two share a competitive bent and love for news.

Larry Aidem, managing partner of Reverb Advisors and a former head of the Sundance Channel, which was formerly owned by NBCUniversal, said of the two golfing pals: "They are both incredibly competitive and love to win, and you can just see their delight. That never-say-die ethos is alive and well. That's probably why they play golf. They also both have a great love and respect for news and the founding fathers of news. David was friendly with [former NBC News anchor Tom] Brokaw."

Zaslav is still friends with many of the anchors and news talent who ran CNBC and MSNBC during his tenure at NBC Universal.

Zaslav has already been positioning Discovery for the news business, providing equity for a right-leaning channel, GB News. "Our plan was to roll across Europe," Zaslav said during the Monday press conference about the investment. "We think one of the differentiating features is live news and live sports." The factual programming giant also looked at acquiring Euronews, and has its own news operation, TVN, in Poland. "We love CNN," Zaslav said at the press conference.

Zucker let it be known at AT&T that he felt he should have been in line for the WarnerMedia CEO position. That role instead went to Jason Kilar, who is now negotiating his exit, according to The New York Times.

Zucker and reps for he and David Zaslav did not immediately respond for comment. But at a press conference announcing the deal, Zaslav said, "The focus will be on talking to everybody at Discovery and everybody at WarnerMedia, and we will be trying to figure out how to get the best people to stay."