Oct 5 (Reuters) – Paramount Skydance on Tuesday completed its blockbuster $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros Discovery, creating a Hollywood heavyweight called Skydance and handing CEO David Ellison control of one of the world’s largest entertainment companies.
The deal’s closing ends a saga that saw a back-and-forth bidding war among several suitors.
Paramount Skydance on Monday named the executive team that will lead the combined company, a day before the deal closed.
Here is a look at Skydance’s executive leadership:
ENTERPRISE LEADERSHIP
Name Role at From Past Experience and Other
Skydance Details
David Chairman Paramount Ellison, current chairman
Ellison and CEO and CEO of Paramount, led
the acquisition of Warner
Bros Discovery after
Skydance Media, which he
founded in 2010, acquired
Paramount.
Ynon Co-CEO; Mattel Kreiz, former CEO of
Kreiz Director Mattel, also led Europe’s
Endemol and YouTube
channel network Maker
Studios. He will oversee
the new Skydance’s
day-to-day operations.
Gerry Board RedBird Founder and Managing
Cardinale Director Capital Partner of RedBird Capital
Partners and a Skydance Board
Director.
CORPORATE LEADERSHIP TEAM
Name Role at From Past Experience and
Skydance Other Details
Andy President; Paramount Currently COO of
Gordon Director Paramount. He was
previously a partner
at RedBird Capital
Partners, where he led
its Los Angeles office
and Technology, Media
and Telecom investment
team.
Dennis CFO Paramount Currently Paramount’s
Cinelli CFO and a former
Paramount board
member. He was CFO of
Scale AI, held senior
leadership roles at
Uber and was CFO of GE
Ventures.
Makan Chief Legal Paramount Currently Paramount’s
Delrahim Officer and chief legal officer.
President, He has held senior
Global posts at DOJ, the
Corporate White House, the US
Affairs Senate and the Office
of the US Trade
Representative.
Dane Chief Paramount Previously served as
Glasgow Product (joined VP of Product
Officer September Management at
2025) Facebook. He held
senior leadership
positions in product,
design, engineering,
and general management
at Google, eBay and
Microsoft.
Rebecca Chief Paramount Held senior leadership
Mall Marketing roles across the
Officer entertainment and
technology industries,
including at William
Morris Endeavor,
Paramount Pictures,
and Google.
Melissa Chief Paramount Currently Paramount’s
Zukerman Communicatio chief communications
ns Officer officer, before which
she spent 18 years as
managing partner of a
communications and
public relations
advisory firm.
BUSINESS LEADERS
Name Role at From Past Experience and
Skydance Other Details
Casey Co-Chair and WBD Currently serves as
Bloys Chief Chairman and CEO, HBO
Content and Max Content. He
Officer, joined HBO in 2004 and
Skydance DTC rose through roles
including Executive
Vice President of HBO
Programming and
President of HBO
Programming.
George Co-Chair and Paramount He has been in charge
Cheeks Chief of CBS Studios for the
Content past six years and
Officer, Co-CEO of Paramount
Skydance TV Global.
Dana Co-Chair, Paramount Served as Chief
Goldberg Skydance Creative Officer
Motion of Skydance Media,
Picture having joined in 2010
Group as President of
Production.
Josh Co-Chair, Paramount Former president of
Greenstei Skydance Sony Motion Picture
n Motion Group.
Picture
Group
James Co-Chairman, WBD Creative force behind
Gunn DC Studios WBD’s 2025 blockbuster
Superman and the
Guardians of the
Galaxy franchise.
Peter Co-Chairman, WBD Previously founded and
Safran DC Studios led The Safran
Company, producing
globally successful
franchises including
The Conjuring, Aquaman
and Shazam!
Jean-Bria Co-Chair and WBD Most recently served
c Chief as CEO and President
Perrette Business of Global Streaming
Officer, and Games for Warner
Skydance TV Bros Discovery.
and Skydance Earlier, he spent 11
DTC years at NBCUniversal,
where he helped create
Hulu.
NEWS EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM
Name Role at From Past Experience and
Skydance Other Details
Mark Chairman and WBD Previously served as
Thompson Editor-in-Ch President and CEO of
ief, CNN the New York Times
Worldwide Company. From 2004 to
2012, he was
director-general of
the British
Broadcasting
Corporation.
Bari Editor-in-Ch Paramount Weiss is also the
Weiss ief, CBS Editor-in-Chief of the
News Free Press, which was
acquired by Skydance
in 2025. She worked on
the opinion pages of
the New York Times and
the Wall Street
Journal.
(Reporting by Prathik Jayaprakash in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)
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