Paramount Global and Skydance Media have formally announced the executive leadership team that will steer the newly merged entity, Paramount Skydance Corporation, following the completion of their $8.4 billion merger, which received final FCC approval earlier this week. David Ellison, founder and CEO of Skydance, will serve as chairman and CEO of the new company. “Each member was selected to align with our goals and to accelerate transformation,” Ellison stated in the announcement.
Jeff Shell, former CEO of NBCUniversal, will assume the role of president, overseeing day-to-day operations. Andy Gordon, of RedBird Capital Partners, will serve as both Chief Operating Officer and Chief Strategy Officer, driving operational planning and long-term growth initiatives. George Cheeks, current co-CEO of Paramount and former president of CBS News, will remain in place as president of the company’s TV Media division.
Cindy Holland, best known for her tenure as VP of original content at Netflix, has been tapped to lead the Direct-to-Consumer division, which includes Paramount+ and Pluto TV. The film division will be jointly led by Dana Goldberg, Skydance’s Chief Creative Officer, and Josh Greenstein, former president of Sony Motion Picture Group. Goldberg will also oversee Paramount Television, while Greenstein takes on the role of Vice Chair of Platforms.
Additional key appointments include Stephanie Kyoko McKinnon as interim General Counsel, Jim Sterner as Chief People Officer, and Melissa Zukerman as Head of Corporate Communications. Notably, Tom Ryan, current president of Paramount Streaming and co-founder of Pluto TV, will depart the company, with his responsibilities transitioning to Holland.
The organizational structure of Paramount Skydance will be centered around three primary business units: Studios, Streaming, and TV Media—preserving Paramount’s core content verticals while integrating Skydance’s production and digital strategy. The merged leadership aims to reposition the company as a hybrid media-tech enterprise capable of competing at scale against streaming giants like Netflix, Disney, and Amazon.
The merger’s approval came with regulatory conditions, including commitments by Skydance to uphold editorial independence at CBS News and eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. These stipulations drew criticism from FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, who dissented on the basis that they could undermine press freedom. The greenlight followed Paramount's recent $16 million settlement with Donald Trump over a disputed segment on "60 Minutes."
As Ellison and Shell take the reins of the newly consolidated company, the reshaped leadership team reflects Paramount Skydance’s intent to fuse creative storytelling with platform agility, expanding both its global content footprint and monetization pathways in an evolving entertainment economy.