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Ynon Kreiz Named Co-CEO Of The Paramount Warner Bros Group

Ad Tribe! Bureau2 min read
Ynon Kreiz, named co-chief executive of the combined Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery company

Ynon Kreiz has been named co-chief executive of the company formed by Paramount Skydance's acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery. Kreiz joins Paramount on 5 October and takes the co-chief executive role on 6 October, when the merger is expected to close.

  • Role: co-chief executive, responsible for day-to-day operations and integrating the combined company
  • Alongside: David Ellison stays chairman and chief executive, holding strategy, creative direction, talent, partnerships, technology and capital allocation
  • Arriving from: Mattel, where Kreiz was chairman and chief executive from 2018
  • The deal: Paramount Skydance is acquiring Warner Bros Discovery at $31 per share in cash, announced in February 2026 and clearing regulators in close to 70 countries
  • What it joins: Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros Pictures, CBS, CNN, HBO, HBO Max, Discovery, Nickelodeon and MTV among others, across more than 200 countries
  • Stated target: around $6 billion in run-rate synergies
  • Background: more than 30 years in media, entertainment and technology, including Maker Studios, Endemol Group and co-founding Fox Kids Europe

Why Ynon Kreiz Rather Than A Studio Executive

Because the job named is integration, not programming. Ellison has kept the creative and strategic half, which leaves the half that decides whether a merger of this size actually functions, and that is an operating discipline rather than a taste one.

The Mattel record is the argument. Taking a toy company into film, television, consumer products, games and live experiences is the same problem in a different industry, which is making separate businesses behave as one brand.

What It Means For Advertisers

A single counterparty where there were two. For anyone buying across CBS, CNN, HBO Max and Discovery, the negotiation consolidates, and so does the inventory, which rarely moves prices in the buyer's favour.

Synergy targets of that scale are also usually met in part through content and headcount, so the slate on offer in two years may be narrower than the brand list suggests today.

What Was Said

Ellison called combining the companies a transformational moment for the industry.

More on the company at paramount.com. More people.

#appointments#Hollywood#Media Mergers
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