One head is better than two at Paramount

Skydance

02/10/2026 13:00

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.
By Jennifer  Saba
NEW YORK, Oct 1 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Sometimes it’s better to have some room at the top. David Ellison, the chairman and chief executive of Paramount Skydance PSKY.O, is planning to share the c-suite with Mattel’s MAT.O ex-head honcho Ynon Kreiz. The co-CEO construct is similar to peers Netflix WBD.O and Comcast CMCSA.O. Yet the owner of CBS is embarking on a risky expansion, adding Warner Bros Discovery WBD.O to the fold. Such complexity might require a simpler organization chart.
Paramount is preparing to close its $110 billion merger with the HBO operator next week, capping a drama-filled M&A battle. Kreiz, who ran the $4 billion toy company since 2018, is a seasoned entertainment executive who also led Maker Studios and Endemol Group, the production company behind the “Big Brother” franchise. While at Mattel, Kreiz re-engineered the company into an intellectual property powerhouse. He was responsible for licensing Barbie to the Warner Bros studio which resulted in a smash hit movie and a box office haul of $1.4 billion. Mattel, according to the New York Times, received a 5% cut in revenue and other sweeteners.
Netflix split its CEO role between Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters. Likewise, Comcast’s Brian Roberts divvied up the title with Mike Cavanagh. Yet both those companies have relatively stable structures—indeed, Comcast is slimming down with the impending separation of NBCUniversal.
The degree of difficulty at Paramount is much higher. Ellison and Kreiz have to both grow the combined entity while achieving $6 billion in promised synergies. That suggests massive job cuts are on the way. And they must do this as a public company while managing an enormous net debt load of nearly $80 billion. An overleveraged balance sheet is partly what led to the sale of Warner Bros in the first place.
There is also a looming shadow of a third man at the top. David’s father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, has pledged $40 billion to the transaction. Oracle Vice Chair Safra Catz and Paul Marinelli, the president of Larry Ellison’s investment firm, also sit on the Paramount board. It’s easy to see how the billionaire will have his say too.
More often than not, splitting leadership duties is an experiment that ends badly. Decision making slows, and companies suffer from turf wars, conflicting goals and inept mistakes. Citigroup C.N, Whole Foods and Salesforce CRM.N are just some of the corporations that tried and failed. Paramount might succeed despite crowded management but generally one head is usually better than two, or even three.
     
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CONTEXT NEWS 
Paramount Skydance named on September 30 Ynon Kreiz as co-chief executive of the media and entertainment company. Kreiz, who was most recently the CEO of toy maker Mattel, will share the role with Chairman and Chief Executive David Ellison.
Paramount expects to close its $110 billion merger with Warner Bros Discovery on October 6.

(Editing by Robert Cyran; Production by Maya Nandhini)
((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on SABA/jennifer.saba@thomsonreuters.com))