Paramount Taps Mattel Chief Ynon Kreiz as Co-CEO, Sets October 6 Close for Warner Bros. Discovery Deal

Paramount Skydance Corporation disclosed in a pair of regulatory filings this week that Ynon Kreiz, the outgoing chairman and chief executive of Mattel, will join the company's board on October 5 and become co-chief executive of the combined Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery enterprise once the companies' $110 billion merger closes. A second filing, made public October 2, confirmed the combined company will shed the Paramount Skydance name for "Skydance Corporation" and move its stock listing from the Nasdaq to the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SKYD.

The disclosures follow a joint announcement by Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery on September 30 that the acquisition is now expected to close on October 6, capping a merger fight that stretched across nearly all of 2026 and drew challenges from consumer plaintiffs, a dozen state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America. David Ellison, Paramount Skydance's chairman and chief executive, will remain the company's top executive after closing, with Kreiz installed alongside him to run day-to-day operations of the newly enlarged media group.

The Numbers

Under the terms spelled out in a joint statement issued by the two companies, Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders will receive $31.00 per share plus roughly $0.00278 for every calendar day that elapses after September 30, pushing the effective price to about $31.02 per share if the deal closes as anticipated on October 6. That values Warner Bros. Discovery's equity at roughly $81 billion and the transaction, including assumed debt, at an enterprise value of $110 billion.

Kreiz's compensation, laid out in a filing Paramount Skydance made with securities regulators on October 1, includes a base salary of $3.5 million that rises to $5 million once the merger closes, a target bonus that climbs from $1.5 million to $4.9 million, a fully vested signing grant of 2.625 million restricted stock units, a separate pre-closing award of 1.25 million units vesting quarterly over three years, and annual equity grants that increase from $15 million to $20.1 million after closing. Variety's review of the filing put the full value of the package at more than $46.5 million. The same filing shows Kreiz would be entitled to two times his salary and bonus, paid out over 24 months, plus accelerated equity vesting, if he is terminated without cause.

Separately, the October 2 filing on the planned name change and listing move set October 5 as the record date for a distribution of warrants to Class B shareholders — excluding insiders such as the Ellison family, Gerry Cardinale and funds tied to RedBird Capital Partners — with the warrants expected to begin trading on the NYSE once the exchange sets an ex-date, around October 6.

A Deal Years in the Making

Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery signed their merger agreement on February 27, 2026, after Paramount Skydance outbid Netflix for the company that owns HBO, CNN, Discovery Channel and the Warner Bros. film and television library. The agreement came roughly seven months after Skydance Media completed its own $8 billion takeover of the former Paramount Global in August 2025, the deal that first installed Ellison as chief executive.

The Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition did not proceed smoothly. A group of Paramount+ subscribers sued in federal court in San Jose in April seeking to block the deal on antitrust grounds, though a judge denied their request for a preliminary injunction in July. A separate and more consequential challenge came from a coalition of twelve state attorneys general, led by California's Rob Bonta, and the Writers Guild of America, who argued the combination would concentrate too much control over film and television production in one company. That case was headed for a twelve-day antitrust trial scheduled for March 2027 before Paramount reached a settlement with the states on September 21. Under that settlement, Paramount agreed to release 30 to 32 films theatrically each year for five years, invest roughly $300 million annually in U.S. production, and establish an independent editorial oversight structure intended to protect journalistic independence at CBS News and CNN.

Kreiz's arrival adds a new chapter to the leadership story. He has run Mattel since 2018, a tenure in which the toy maker reclaimed the top global ranking in dolls, vehicles and infant and toddler products, restored its investment-grade credit rating, and produced "Barbie," the top-grossing film worldwide in 2023. Before Mattel, Kreiz led Maker Studios, the YouTube-focused production company Disney acquired for roughly $500 million in 2014, and earlier ran the European television group Endemol and Fox Kids Europe. Mattel disclosed Kreiz's departure in its own filing on September 30, naming board member and Condé Nast chief executive Roger Lynch to succeed him as chairman effective October 2 and as chief executive no later than November 2.

Who Is Affected

The reorganization touches thousands of employees across both companies' studios, networks and streaming operations, which will be consolidated into three divisions — studios, direct-to-consumer and TV media — once the deal closes. Executives named to run those units include Cindy Holland, formerly of Netflix, over the direct-to-consumer business encompassing Paramount+ and HBO Max; Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein as co-chairs of the film studio; and George Cheeks over the television division that includes CBS, Nickelodeon, Discovery Channel and CNN. The settlement with state attorneys general also directly affects theater owners, who were promised limits on certain fee increases, and writers represented by the WGA, whose suit over industry concentration was resolved alongside the states' case.

Reaction

In the companies' September 30 announcement of Kreiz's appointment, Ellison framed the hire as reinforcement for the scale of the task ahead rather than a change in direction.

"In Ynon, I'm adding a partner with strong leadership and the operating firepower this integration demands," Ellison said.

Kreiz, in the same release, said he was "excited to partner with David to build the next-generation media and entertainment company," while Gerry Cardinale of RedBird Capital Partners, one of the equity backers of Ellison's acquisition of Paramount, said in a statement that "historic leaders know when to bring in the right partner to make it last." Coverage of the appointment by trade outlets tracking the merger and reporting on the size of his pay package noted that Kreiz's hiring was unusual in installing an outside consumer-products executive, rather than a longtime media operator, atop a company managing CBS, CNN and two of Hollywood's largest film studios.

What Happens Next

Barring a delay, the merger is set to close October 6, at which point Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders will be paid out, Kreiz's co-chief-executive role and revised pay terms take effect, and the renamed Skydance Corporation begins trading on the NYSE under the ticker SKYD. The company said it expects roughly $6 billion in annual run-rate cost savings from combining the two businesses, which together hold a library of more than 15,000 film titles and franchises including Harry Potter, Star Trek, Top Gun and Game of Thrones. At Mattel, Lynch is due to formally take over as chief executive no later than November 2, closing out Kreiz's eight-year run at the toy company as he moves to oversee the integration of one of the entertainment industry's largest-ever mergers.