Paramount Skydance’s streaming chief Cindy Holland is exiting the studio, clearing the way for HBO Chairman Casey Bloys to claim a key role in the company once Paramount acquires Warner Bros. Discovery.
Holland announced her departure Tuesday in a memo to her staff. Her resignation is effective immediately.
She joined Paramount nearly 14 months ago as chairman of direct-to-consumer operations, in charge of Paramount+ and Pluto TV, after David Ellison’s Skydance Media took control of the media company long held by the Sumner Redstone family.
Holland, a respected former Netflix executive, was one of the few Paramount executiveswho lacked long ties to Ellison, who brought much of his Skydance team with him to Paramount.
Her resignation comes as Paramount is waiting for a federal judge to approve a settlement agreement that would allow Paramount to finalize its $111-billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, which also includes CNN, TBS and the Warner Bros. film and television studios.
The agreement, unveiled last week, was designed to end a lawsuit brought by California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and 11 other Democratic attorneys general, who had argued Hollywood’s biggest merger in decades violated U.S. antitrust laws.
“As David readies for the next phase of his vision, we’ve discussed my role and the future of the combined businesses,” Holland wrote in the memo shared with her staff viewed by the Times. “David is optimizing for HBO stability as we move into this next chapter, and I fully support that.”
Ellison, in recent months, made clear his intention to install Bloys in a pivotal role at the combined company.
Ellison months ago made a public commitment to protect HBO, which has long been a leader in prestige TV programming. The network has already undergone two ownership changes, and considerable management turmoil, during the last decade. Bloys has led HBO as its chairman since late 2022. He was one of the first Warner executives that Ellison met with this year after Paramount prevailed over Netflix in the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery.
The New York Times first reported Holland’s departure.
“Cindy has been a trusted partner to me and so many others, and I couldn’t be more grateful for her leadership, her relentless drive and everything she’s done for our company,” Ellison said in a statement.
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