Media

Paramount Names Skydance Leadership for Warner Bros. Merger

Does this prove Ellison is going to prove the doubters wrong or do his cuts and heavy debt leave no room for error?

3 hours ago·Updated 1 hour ago

Paramount Names Skydance Leadership for Warner Bros. Merger

Story

Above: David Ellison in Los Angeles, Calif. on May 6. Image credit: Gilbert Flores/Variety/Getty Images

The Facts

Paramount Skydance Corp. on Monday named the leadership team expected to run the combined company, called Skydance, after the anticipated close of its Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition this week. Each leader will report directly to the co-CEOs.
Paramount
David Ellison will serve as chairman and CEO, with former Mattel chief Ynon Kreiz as co-CEO. Ellison will handle long-term strategy, creative vision, technology and capital allocation. Kreiz will oversee daily management and merger integration.
Deadline
Bloomberg
The corporate team includes Andy Gordon as president, Dennis Cinelli as chief financial officer, former Justice Department antitrust chief Makan Delrahim as chief legal officer, Dane Glasgow as chief product officer and Rebecca Mall as chief marketing officer.
Cord Cutter News
Axios
Mark Thompson will remain chairman and editor-in-chief of CNN Worldwide, and Bari Weiss will stay on as editor-in-chief of CBS News. Thompson told staff Monday that he has confidence the new owners will support independent news.
The Hollywood Reporter
New York Post
Casey Bloys will become co-chair and chief content officer of Skydance's streaming unit, overseeing HBO Max and Paramount+, while George Cheeks takes the same titles at Skydance TV. JB Perrette will co-chair both divisions as chief business officer.
Variety
CNBC
Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein will co-chair Skydance Motion Picture Group, and James Gunn and Peter Safran stay as DC Studios co-chairs. Warner Bros. film chiefs Pamela Abdy and Michael De Luca are not joining the new company.
Reuters
Axios
Variety

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

Ellison is exactly the kind of leader Hollywood should want running a combined studio: decent, disciplined and genuinely good to the people around him. This management team shows he knows what he's doing. The skeptics who swore this deal would never close have been wrong at every turn, and betting against him again looks foolish.

Charles Gasparino on X

Rhett Reese on X

Narrative B

This management team will have a lot to overcome. The easy savings come from integration that's not happening here. Slashing budgets guts the creative engine, tanks morale and sends the best talent out the door. With leverage that heavy, there's no margin for error, and near-perfect execution is a fantasy.