Skydance has locked in New Paramount’s leadership team ahead of Thursday’s expected closing of its $8 billion merger with the Hollywood studio.
David Ellison will lead the company as CEO, while RedBird Capital Partners’ sports and media chairman and former NBCUniversal executive Jeff Shell will serve as president. RedBird’s Andy Gordon will also serve as chief operating and strategy officer, while Andrew Warren will continue as interim chief financial officer.
Cindy Holland, a former Netflix executive who has been serving as a senior advisor to Ellison since October, will oversee the direct-to-consumer division, which includes Paramount+ and Pluto TV, as chair.
Skydance chief creative officer Dana Goldberg and former Sony Motion Picture Group president Josh Greenstein will serve as co-chairs of Paramount Pictures. Goldberg will also serve as chair of Paramount Television, while Greenstein will serve as vice chair of platforms. George Cheeks, who has served as CBS’ president and CEO and a Paramount co-CEO, will remain with the company and serve as chair of the TV Media division.
Additionally, Skydance’s general counsel Stephanie Kyoko McKinnon will serve as Paramount’s general counsel and acting chief legal officer, Amazon Global Media and Entertainment’s Jim Sterner will serve as chief people officer and Melissa Zukerman will serve as chief communications officer and oversee the company’s corporate social responsibility division.
“I’m thrilled to introduce our new executive leadership team — backed by deep industry experience, proven track records, and a shared commitment to excellence, this world-class team is uniquely equipped to rise to the occasion and deliver on our bold vision for a new Paramount,” Ellison said in a statement. “Each member was chosen to align with our goals and with the intention to drive transformation. Together, we will foster an environment where creative and technical talent collaborate seamlessly, marrying leading technologies with powerful storytelling and artistic vision to unlock Paramount’s full potential and help shape the future of our industry.”
Under the two-step deal, Skydance is set to acquire controlling shareholder Shari Redstone’s holding company National Amusements, which controls 77.4% of the Paramount Class A common stock outstanding and approximately 9.5% of the overall equity of the company, before merging with the Hollywood studio.
The deal provides $2.4 billion for Redstone, $4.5 billion to non-NAI Paramount shareholders and an additional $1.5 billion in new capital to help pay down debt and recapitalize the company’s balance sheet.
Redstone will exit the board of directors and current Paramount co-CEO Chris McCarthy will exit the company following the merger’s closing. Additionally, New Paramount will begin trading on the Nasdaq under the new ticker symbol: PSKY.
Ellison founded Skydance Media in 2010. As CEO, he oversaw the company’s film slate, including 2022’s “Top: Gun Maverick.” In 2022, Skydance struck a multi-year deal with Apple to develop and produce an annual slate of live-action films for Apple TV+.
In 2013, he launched Skydance Television whose credits include “Grace and Frankie,” “Foundation,” and “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.” The company would expand with the formation of Skydance Animation in 2017, which struck partnerships with Apple TV+ and Netflix and opened a Madrid office in 2020, and Skydance Sports with the NFL in 2021, which produced content including “Good Rivals” and “Air,” as well as numerous sports documentaries and films.
At RedBird, Shell played a central leadership role in directing the firm’s investments and strategy across sports and entertainment assets. At NBCU, he held several leadership roles including film and entertainment chairman, Universal Film Group chairman, NBCUniversal International chairman and the media giant’s CEO. He also ran Comcast’s programming group and held executive positions at News Corporation, Fox, Disney and Salomon Brothers.
As a partner at RedBird, Gordon oversaw the firm’s Los Angeles office as well as its Technology, Media & Telecom (“TMT”) investment team and its Capital Markets activities. He helped source the firm’s investments in Paramount, Skydance Media, Talent Systems and Hidden Pigeon.
Previously, he served at Goldman Sachs for 35 years in various roles including global chairman of investment banking services, head of the investment bank’s West region, global head of media and telecommunications for the Technology, Media and Telecom Group, and co-head of the One Goldman Sachs family office initiative in the Americas.
Prior to advising Skydance, Holland was CEO of the independent studio SISTER, which she joined in 2023. At Netflix, she spent nine years as vice president of original content, where she established the streamer’s programming strategy and oversaw teams behind series such as “House of Cards,” “Orange is the New Black,” “Narcos,” “Stranger Things,” “Ozark” and more. She began her career on the producing side working at Spring Creek Productions with Paula Weinstein and at Mutual Film Company.
As chief creative officer of Skydance, Goldberg has developed numerous features and TV series. She joined the company in 2010 as president of production, overseeing a film slate that included “The Adam Project,” “The Tomorrow War,” “The Old Guard,” “The Family Plan,” “The Gorge,” and several entries in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise, as well as “World War Z,” “True Grit,” and many others.
She also founded Skydance Television in 2013 and has developed and produced over 20 series, including “Grace & Frankie,” “Reacher,” “Jack Ryan,” “Cross,” “Foundation,” “The Runarounds,” and more. Prior to Skydance, Goldberg was Village Roadshow Pictures’ president of production, where she oversaw films such as “I Am Legend” and “Happy Feet,” and served as production vice president at Baltimore/Spring Creek Pictures.
In addition to serving as Skydance’s general counsel McKinnon has served as co-president of business operations and head of human resources, information technology and facilities. Before that, she was senior vice president and deputy general counsel for Vice Media and vice president of legal and business affairs for Whistle Sports.
Sterner spent over 15 years at Amazon, most recently as the human resources leader for the Global Media and Entertainment division. Earlier in his career at the tech giant, he led HR for corporate functions and held global HR leadership roles in operations and customer service. Prior to Amazon, Sterner held senior HR positions at PepsiCo, Honeywell, and The Home Depot.
Prior to Paramount, Zukerman spent 18 years as a managing partner of Principal Communications Group, where she represented companies including AT&T, Bad Robot, Chernin, Disney, Legendary, Live Nation, Marvel Studios, Warner Bros. Discovery, Skydance, and RedBird Capital Partners. Earlier in her career, she held corporate communications positions at Universal Studios, E! Entertainment Television, Virgin, and IFILM, which was acquired by Viacom.
More to come…
