The Dailies: Paramount Cleared its Last Mountain ...

 

CLOSEUP 🏔️ Paramount cleared its last mountain…

Ynon Kreiz (co-CEO) and David Ellison (just CEO) of Paramount-Warner Bros. (Getty Images)

After a year of bids, lawsuits, and 12 attorneys general, the only thing left between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery is a calendar. On Wednesday, a federal judge approved the company's settlement with the states that sued to block the $111B merger, and the close is tentatively set for Tuesday, Oct. 6. The exec shuffle (so far):

Minutes after the ruling, David Ellison named outgoing Mattel boss Ynon Kreiz co-CEO. Ellison keeps strategy and creative, Kreiz runs day-to-day operations, and every business reports to both. It's a co-CEO arrangement where only one of them has the "co." Cindy Holland stepped down as Paramount's streaming chief on Tuesday, leaving HBO boss Casey Bloys poised to run the combined streaming operation. Ellison has reportedly asked CNN CEO Mark Thompson to stay, though no deal is done (Thompson wants assurances of editorial autonomy). Warner Bros. film chiefs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy are reportedly on their way out, with Paramount's Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg expected to oversee both studios. Nothing's official yet. WBD CEO David Zaslav is expected to exit with more than $550M in stock and cash. Quite the parting gift.

Who's Kreiz? A veteran operator with 30+ years in media. He co-founded Fox Kids Europe, ran Endemol, and sold Maker Studios to Disney for $500M before taking over Mattel in 2018. There, he pushed the toymaker into Hollywood with 'Barbie' as the breakout (still Warner Bros.' highest-grossing film ever). Ellison had reportedly been courting him for months.

Looking ahead… Ellison still has to name the company. (The internet has offered "WarnaMount" and "ParaBros" free of charge.) He also has to sort out multiple studios and 50+ cable networks, and the $6B in promised cost savings will likely fall to Kreiz, who earned a cost-cutter reputation at Mattel. The org chart drama is just getting started.