Sources tell us that Skydance–Paramount is going to make official their corporate leadership team tomorrow morning.
The combined company’s structure is being announced early Monday ahead of the Aug. 7 merger date. Here’s what we’re hearing is going to go down per sources in the $8 billion-plus transaction: Some of this has already been out there — just take it all with an asterisk.
As already indicated, Skydance founder David Ellison will be CEO of the new entertainment conglomerate with former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell being tapped as President.
RedBird Capital Partner Andy Gordon is coming over as Chief Strategist and COO. The Gerry Cardinale-founded RedBird Capital backed the Skydance-Paramount deal. Gordon helped source RedBird’s investments in Skydance with the Ellison family, Talent Systems and Hidden Pigeon. He previously had a 35-year career at Goldman Sachs, where he was most recently the 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.
Cindy Holland, former Netflix TV chief and former Global CEO of Elisabeth Murdoch and Jane Featherstone‘s Sister, will be the head of DTC, Paramount+ and Pluto. Sources tell us she’ll report directly to Ellison.
We hear that Skydance Chief Creative Officer Dana Goldberg and former Sony Pictures Motion Pictures President Josh Greenstein will be co-heads of the film studio. Greenstein will also be Vice Chair of DTC, while Goldberg will add TV production under her domain. As one person with knowledge of the deal exclaimed about Greenstein: “To have someone who knows about creative and marketing in this day and age is a unicorn.”
As expected, Paramount Global co-CEO George Cheeks will be one of the old Paramount execs to segue over (co-CEO Chris McCarthy having already signaled his exit, and co-CEO Brian Robbins expected). Cheeks will continue to oversee CBS and would add McCarthy’s cable network portfolio. Currently Cheeks has CBS Entertainment, CBS News and Stations, CBS Sports under his oversight, as well as CBS Studios — the largest TV production unit within Paramount-Skydance, and Paramount’s syndication business, CBS Media Ventures.
Additionally we hear Jim Sterner, the current head of Amazon Entertainment HR, is coming over to lead Skydance and Paramount HR.
And former Principal Communications co-founder Melissa Zuckerman will be the new Head of Corp Comm for Skydance-Paramount, the vet having already segued over to the Ellison production company.
