David Ellison just merged his way into running Paramount and immediately decided he needed a co-CEO. Ynon Kreiz gets the honor. Kreiz previously ran Mattel, where his crowning achievement was making a Barbie movie that convinced millions of people they were experiencing feminism while buying plastic dolls.
Skydance now has two CEOs for one empire. This answers a key governance question by raising seven new ones. Nothing says confident leadership like splitting the top job before the ink dries on the merger papers.
Kreiz comes from the toy industry. Ellison comes from Oracle money and making mid-budget action movies nobody asked for. Together they will run a media conglomerate that owns a streaming service people forgot they were still paying for. The synergy is palpable.
Retail traders who bought Paramount stock hoping Ellison would save them now get to watch two guys steer the ship. Twice the executive compensation. Twice the strategic vision statements. Half the accountability when it all goes sideways.
The governance concern was real. Who actually runs this thing after the merger? Ellison needed someone with entertainment experience who wouldn't threaten his control. Kreiz needed a job where his last company's success could be attributed entirely to Greta Gerwig. Perfect match.
Co-CEO structures work great in theory. In practice they work exactly as well as you'd expect when two people share a job designed for one. But sure, this time will be different. This time it's not a red flag that the guy who bought the company immediately needed help running it.
Ellison bought himself an empire and a babysitter in the same quarter.
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