Cindy Holland, the Paramount Skydance streaming chief, will leave the company immediately, before its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, she told colleagues on Tuesday.
The abrupt departure of Ms. Holland, who joined Skydance as an adviser early last year, clears a path for Casey Bloys, the HBO chairman, to assume the top programming position for the company’s streaming services after Paramount completes the Warner Bros. purchase. The deal, which includes HBO, could close as soon as next week.
Entertainment executives had been speculating for months whether David Ellison, Paramount’s chief executive, would anoint Mr. Bloys, stick with Ms. Holland or try to make the two work together.
“As David readies for the next phase of his vision, we’ve discussed my role and the future of the combined businesses,” Ms. Holland wrote in a note to her colleagues. “David is optimizing for HBO stability as we move into this next chapter, and I fully support that.”
One of the reasons the speculation became a favorite parlor game is that Ms. Holland and Mr. Bloys both have strong resumes. Ms. Holland was one of the primary architects of Netflix’s original program strategy, playing a key role in shepherding series like “Stranger Things,” “House of Cards” and “The Crown.” She left the company in 2020, and Bela Bajaria took over the top programming position. Ms. Holland became Paramount’s direct-to-consumer chief last year, capping a major comeback.
Over the last 13 months, Ms. Holland has been diligently signing projects for Paramount+, including a legal thriller starring Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning and a limited series starring Jeremy Strong called “9/12.” Ms. Holland has been keeping a close eye on programming more series for women, given the male-oriented strength — with Ultimate Fighting Championship bouts and Taylor Sheridan shows like “Landman” and “Tulsa King” — of the streamer. In 2029, Mr. Sheridan will decamp for NBCUniversal, raising the stakes for Ms. Holland to keep the cupboard filled after the prolific producer departs.
In a statement, Mr. Ellison praised Ms. Holland as “a force of nature whose impact on Paramount over the past year has been significant.”
Mr. Bloys, a 22-year veteran of HBO, is one of the most respected executives in the entertainment industry. During his decade running the network’s original programming strategy, HBO has programmed premium fare directly in its wheelhouse like “Succession” and “The White Lotus,” but he has also ordered more populist fare, including the medical series “The Pitt,” a major hit.
Mr. Bloys has been overseeing the bigger streaming service. Warner Bros. Discovery said this year that it had more than 140 million subscribers, while the Paramount+ subscriber count is just over 80 million.
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