Paramount WBD Executive Structure Unveiled As Deal Set To Close

After a year of negotiations, false starts, and internal and external politicking, the question of who will run the combined media and entertainment giant created by Paramount acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery has been answered. As anticipated, the company, which will be called simply Skydance, has set top roles for Casey Bloys, as co-chair and chief content officer of Skydance DTC, and George Cheeks as head of Skydance TV. JB Perrette is making the jump from WBD as Co-Chair & Chief Business Officer, Skydance TV and Co-Chair & Chief Business Officer, Skydance DTC. Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein will co-chair the motion picture group. James Gunn and Peter Safran will remain atop DC Studios. Watch on Deadline Mark Thompson was named Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of CNN Worldwide, Bari Weiss editor-in-chief of CBS News. The company will be led led by co-CEOs David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz. See below: CEO Corporate Leadership Team Andy Gordon, President Dennis Cinelli, Chief Financial Officer Makan Delrahim, Chief Legal Officer and President, Global Corporate Affairs Dane Glasgow, Chief Product Officer Rebecca Mall, Chief Marketing Officer Melissa Zukerman, Chief Communications Officer CEO Business Leadership Team Casey Bloys, Co-Chair and Chief Content Officer, Skydance DTC George Cheeks, Co-Chair and Chief Content Officer, Skydance TV Dana Goldberg, Co-Chair, Skydance Motion Picture Group Josh Greenstein, Co-Chair, Skydance Motion Picture Group James Gunn, Co-Chairman of DC Studios JB Perrette, Co-Chair & Chief Business Officer, Skydance TV and Co-Chair & Chief Business Officer, Skydance DTC Peter Safran, Co-Chairman of DC Studios CEO News Executive Leadership Team Mark Thompson, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of CNN Worldwide Bari Weiss, Editor-in-Chief of CBS News A complete list of the company’s new executive leadership team will be issued soon after close, which is anticipated for Tuesday. “I’m incredibly proud to introduce the team that will lead Skydance forward, a group that reflects the ambition behind this historic combination,” Ellison said. “Together, Paramount and Warner Bros. will form a creative-first home with the scale, imagination and technology to define entertainment for a generation. The leaders joining me have built some of the most beloved franchises and businesses in the industry, and they share a deep respect for the creative process and a belief that great stories have the power to entertain, unite and inspire audiences around the world. Their talent, experience and ambition are exactly what this moment demands, and together we will build a next-generation global media company that leads the industry in creative excellence and innovation, and delivers for audiences, creators, partners and shareholders alike.” This comes just over a year after news broke that Paramount was exploring a deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, a month after David Ellison’s Skydance closed its $8.4B deal to buy Paramount. News of who will run the newly combined company, which brings together brands such as Harry Potter, Mission Impossible, Friends and Yellowstone, has started to emerge over the last week. On September 30, former Mattel CEO Kreiz, who was also previously CEO of Endemol, was named Co-CEO of the company alongside Ellison. “Our goals as a team are to establish Skydance as the premier Hollywoodcontent engine and home for the world’s leading storytellers, accelerate our integrated DTC platform with the best content, leading-edge technology and superior consumer experience, and optimize our highly profitable linear TV portfolio, reaching audiences globally across every entertainment vertical,” Kreiz said today. “Together, we will: Win in storytelling by leveraging our creative capabilities, talent relationships, production prowess and expansive library of iconic IP; Build the most technologically capable media company through a modern tech platform to enhance the user experience, improve how we work and achieve operating efficiencies; and Lead in a crowded market by capitalizing on our scale, assets and global reach to compete in an evolving marketplace, drive synergies and grow our business.” Speculation has been flying over the past weeks as to the makeup of the new regime and it’s taken shape quickly since a court settlement cleared the decks for the companies to come together in a mega-deal valued at $110 billion. Cindy Holland, who was Paramount’s Chair of Direct-to-Consumer, ostensibly running Paramount+, was the first to reveal she was stepping down ahead of the deal closing. Holland’s departure answered one of the biggest questions heading into the combination: who would lead streaming. That move telegraphed that Casey Bloys, who was Chairman and CEO of HBO and HBO Max Content, was in line for this major new role at the new company, as indicated in Holland’s departure note to colleagues. “David is optimizing for HBO stability,” she wrote. More to come