David Ellison, on the eve of officially closing the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger to form Skydance Corp., has announced his picks for the senior execs to run his new company.
The new leadership team will be led by Ellison, chairman and CEO, and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz, the former Mattel chief who joins Skydance starting Monday. The divisions of the merged Paramount-Warner Bros. — spanning two major movie studios, TV networks and streaming — will report to both Ellison and Kreiz.
As expected, the film business will be headed by Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, previously co-chairs of Paramount Pictures. Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group heads Pamela Abdy and Michael De Luca are not joining the new company. James Gunn and Peter Safran will continue as co-heads of DC Studios.
George Cheeks, previously chair of TV media at Paramount Skydance, is co-chair and chief content officer of Skydance TV. Mark Thompson will continue to run CNN as CEO.
Casey Bloys, who has headed up HBO and HBO Max, will become co-chair and chief content officer, Skydance DTC streaming. JB Perrette (previously Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO and president of global streaming and games) is co-chair and chief business officer of both Skydance TV and Skydance DTC.
Here’s the list of Skydance’s executive appointments announced Monday:
Enterprise Leadership
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- David Ellison, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
- Ynon Kreiz, Co-Chief Executive Officer
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
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
- Peter Safran, Co-Chairman of DC Studios
- JB Perrette, Co-Chair & Chief Business Officer, Skydance TV and Co-Chair & Chief Business Officer, Skydance DTC
News Executive Leadership Team
- Mark Thompson, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of CNN Worldwide
- Bari Weiss, Editor-in-Chief of CBS News
Ellison and his Paramount team clinched the $111 billion agreement to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in February 2026. After the deal received regulatory clearances in 68 countries, it got the final green light last week when a judge approved Paramount’s lenient settlement with 12 states resolving their antitrust lawsuit aimed at blocking the merger.
Ellison said in a statement, “I’m incredibly proud to introduce the team that will lead Skydance forward, a group that reflects the ambition behind this historic combination. Together, Paramount and Warner Bros. will form a creative-first home with the scale, imagination and technology to define entertainment for a generation.”
Kreiz commented: “Our goals as a team are to establish Skydance as the premier Hollywood content 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.”
The new Skydance, a nod to Ellison’s original independent movie production firm, will be saddled with an estimated $80 billion-plus in net debt. The company’s common stock is set to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “SKYD” with the start of trading Tuesday, Oct. 6.
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From Variety US