Paramount-Warner Bros. merger moves forward after judge approves settlement
By Brian Stelter, Liam Reilly, CNN
(CNN) — Paramount entered the final stages of merging with Warner Bros. Discovery on Wednesday afternoon, when a federal judge approved last week’s settlement of an antitrust lawsuit filed by state attorneys general.
Minutes after Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín issued an order accepting the settlement, Paramount CEO David Ellison announced that he is hiring Ynon Kreiz to be co-CEO of the combined company.
Kreiz has been the CEO of Mattel for the past eight years.
The media merger will unite Warner Bros. movie studio with the Paramount studio, HBO Max with Paramount+, MTV with Discovery, and CBS News with CNN.
Paramount intends to complete its takeover of WBD next week, sources told CNN. The new name of the combined company could be announced as soon as Thursday.
Ellison, who has been pursuing the mega-merger for the past year, said in a press release he wanted to add a partner to help run the combined Paramount-WBD.
Ellison will remain chairman and CEO, while Kreiz will be co-CEO and will join the combined company’s board of directors.
“It’s a division of labor built on our complementary strengths, with clear reporting lines and it lets me focus where I can contribute most: long-term strategy, the company’s overall creative direction, talent relationships, strategic partnerships, technology and capital allocation,” Ellison said.
That means Kreiz “will focus on the company’s day-to-day management and integration of the combined businesses,” according to the Paramount press release.
Ellison said the combined Paramount-WBD would be “creator-first, tech-forward and built to scale globally.”
Management shakeups are already underway. On Tuesday, Paramount’s streaming chief, Cindy Holland, said she was leaving the company, which signaled to Hollywood that HBO chief Casey Bloys will oversee a merged Paramount-HBO streaming platform.
Ellison’s team is expected to make further announcements about the leadership team in the coming days.
But Paramount needed the judge’s sign-off first.
The state AGs who were suing to block the deal backed down and announced a settlement on September 21, so Martínez-Olguín’s approval was the final necessary step.
The timing of the court approval was striking: It came on the last day before October 1, when a “ticking fee” is slated to go into effect, increasing the cost of WBD for Paramount.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
