David Ellison Names Mattel’s Kreiz Co-CEO as Skydance Mega-Merger Closes

David Ellison has spent two years building his media empire, and now he brings in a heavyweight to help run it. Ynon Kreiz, outgoing CEO of Mattel, will serve as co-CEO of the combined Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery when the merger closes on Tuesday, October 6. The new entity will unite the storied film studios of Paramount and Warner Bros., the CBS broadcast network, a sprawling portfolio of pay-TV networks including CNN, TNT, MTV and BET, and streaming services Paramount+ and HBO Max under one roof. Ellison announced Friday morning on X that the combined company will be known simply as Skydance, the same name he gave the small production company he founded in 2006.

The appointment of Kreiz to a top executive position alongside Ellison addresses a governance question that has surrounded Ellison’s aggressive pursuit of legacy media assets. The tech executive and son of billionaire Larry Ellison can buy it, but can he lead it? Not even 18 months ago, Ellison served as CEO of film production company Skydance with a limited portfolio of hits, namely the Tom Cruise-led Mission: Impossible franchise and Top Gun: Maverick. By August 2025, he successfully closed an acquisition of Paramount in a deal worth around $8 billion.

Roughly a month later, Ellison started his campaign for WBD, spurring a back-and-forth bidding war that ultimately resulted in a deal worth roughly $110 billion on an enterprise basis to merge two of Hollywood’s biggest media companies. The announcement caps a busy week for the 43-year-old media mogul, who on October 1 announced that CNN CEO Mark Thompson would stay at the helm. The naming announcement came a day after Paramount’s shares posted their biggest one-day drop since December, following a rocky $52 billion debt sale.

Kreiz Brings Three Decades of Media Experience

Kreiz is a 30-year veteran of the media space, arguably best known for ushering Barbie to the big screen in 2023. He earned a reputation as a turnaround specialist, with roots in entertainment despite his recent stint in consumer goods. The executive is known for turning Mattel’s IP into theatrical releases, riding on the success of Barbie as a global phenomenon, and pushing to bring toy brands including Hot Wheels and Masters of the Universe to the big screen. He joins Paramount Skydance on Monday and becomes co-CEO on Tuesday upon closing.

Many on Wall Street have lauded Kreiz for reviving toymaker Mattel through various cost-cutting measures, though others question whether his previous entertainment experience is enough to help navigate Skydance through this merger and how successfully he and Ellison will share duties. Matthew Condon, analyst at Citizens Bank, views the appointment positively in a research note published this week, stating that Kreiz’s operating experience and brand focus uniquely position him to help lead the integration and build the combined business into a best-in-class content and IP platform.

Ellison’s focus will center on the company’s long-term strategy, creative vision, technology and capital allocation, while Kreiz will handle day-to-day management and operational execution. Ellison opened his post with a line that could double as an investor pitch: “What once was the peak, is now just the beginning.” He emphasized in his announcement that both studios have distinct identities and legacies that audiences have connected with for generations, and the goal was a name that would give the combined company an identity while letting Paramount, Warner Bros. and their brands remain in the spotlight.

Mass Layoffs Expected as Cost-Cutting Begins

The merger that thrust Ellison into the upper echelons of media moguldom, crowning him the young king of Hollywood with a sprawling empire surpassing even that of the Murdochs, will come at a steep cost to the industry he seeks to command. Thousands of jobs are set to be axed at the consolidated company as Ellison’s new entity moves to slash billions in costs. While Ellison prepares to announce his new management team, the first dominoes have already started to fall.

Paramount streaming boss Cindy Holland announced she was immediately exiting the company, while Warner Bros. studio chiefs Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca were also given news of their fates. Many more painful layoffs are set to come as the company works to contain its massive debt obligations. Kreiz himself is known for wielding the axe, having slashed roughly 20% of Mattel’s workforce during his tenure at the toy manufacturer.

Streaming Profits Rise as Linear TV Shrinks

On streaming, at least, Warner Bros. Discovery reached its peak only recently. As the fall TV season begins and advertisers finalize fourth-quarter budgets, WBD is posting the streaming profits Wall Street demanded for years, just as it is being handed to Ellison in a deal valued at more than $110 billion. In the second quarter, WBD’s streaming segment topped $3 billion in revenue for the first time, up 10 percent. Streaming adjusted EBITDA rose 63 percent to $512 million, excluding currency effects, while linear TV kept shrinking.

For David Zaslav, who is nearing the end of a multi-year turnaround, the numbers may be the clearest evidence yet that his strategy worked. They also raise the value of what Ellison is acquiring. On the earnings call, Zaslav called the results a powerful and impressive business turnaround. He noted that as recently as 2022, HBO’s streaming business was a mostly U.S.-only operation losing more than $2 billion. The first move that got him there was international expansion, with HBO Max launching globally this year.

A New Corporate Identity for Legacy Studios

Ellison presented the Skydance name as a way to keep the two legacy studios at the center of the company, writing that the team never wanted a new corporate identity to diminish, alter or overshadow either one. The CEO posted a sizzle reel for the new media conglomerate, opening with a scene from James Cameron’s Titanic and concluding with a graphic showcasing the constellation of core media brands set to operate under his control, including the iconic film studios, HBO Max, DC, CBS, Nickelodeon, and CNN.

“Paramount and Warner Bros. shaped over a century of culture. By combining them, we aren’t rewriting history – we’re equipping these iconic studios with a more powerful engine. Together, we are Skydance: a creative-first home for bold, quality storytelling,” Ellison wrote in a statement extolling the scale and capabilities of Skydance.

The deal positions Ellison at the helm of one of Hollywood’s largest media operations, controlling vast libraries of content, multiple streaming platforms, and some of the industry’s most recognized brands. The challenge ahead will be integrating two massive organizations while navigating the rapidly changing media landscape and managing significant financial obligations. With Kreiz now sharing executive duties, Wall Street will watch closely to see whether the partnership can deliver on the ambitious promise of building a best-in-class content platform.