David Ellison, the media mogul on the verge of adding Warner Bros. Discovery to Paramount, said on Wednesday that he had tapped Ynon Kreiz, the chief executive of Mattel, as his co-chief executive of the combined company.
Mr. Kreiz, 60, will be responsible for overseeing the company’s day-to-day operations while Mr. Ellison will remain chairman and the chief executive in charge of the company’s strategy, films and TV shows, and technology, Paramount said in a news release.
“When you look at Ynon’s background and mine, and what we have accomplished, I think we’re really well positioned to win together,” Mr. Ellison said in a joint interview with Mr. Kreiz on Wednesday.
Hollywood is not new for Mr. Kreiz, who previously worked at Fox Kids and the digital video platform Maker Studios. He also served as chief executive of Endemol Group, an independent television production company and owner of such franchises as “Big Brother.”
At Mattel, which he joined in 2018, he spent years working to transform Barbie, the company’s iconic doll, into a movie. The resulting picture, starring Margot Robbie in the title role and directed by Greta Gerwig, was a hit in 2023, ultimately bringing in nearly $1.45 billion at the global box office.
But some of the company’s attempts to turn toys into movies have not fared as well. “Masters of the Universe,” this year’s live-action film featuring Mattel’s He-Man, took in about $114 million globally. Arpine Kocharian, an analyst at UBS, said in a note on Wednesday that Mr. Kreiz’s departure added “a layer of uncertainty to an already skittish investor sentiment” about Mattel.
Under Mr. Kreiz, the company — whose other properties include Hot Wheels, American Girl and Fisher-Price — reported revenue of $5.35 billion last year, up from $4.5 billion in 2018. But revenue has stayed essentially flat the past five years. And while Mr. Kreiz took over a money-losing company and restored it to profitability, last year’s net income of $397 million was significantly lower than the $903 million in 2021.
Mr. Kreiz said his experience at Mattel had prepared him to help oversee the trove of characters and stories owned by both Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery. The combined company will own characters from Harry Potter, superheroes from DC Comics and the crew of the Enterprise from “Star Trek.”
The key to being a good steward of those stories and characters is to make decisions that safeguard their long-term value and reputation, Mr. Kreiz said. Then, they can be unleashed for maximum effect.
“‘Barbie’ was never about making a movie,” Mr. Kreiz said. “It was about creating a cultural phenomenon.”
Asked about some of Mattel’s underperforming films, Mr. Kreiz acknowledged that “not every movie is going to be the next ‘Barbie.’” But the same principles, he said, apply to each project: Executives must take strong brands and amplify them as widely as possible.
Mr. Kreiz’s new role has already had a ripple effect across the media industry. His successor at Mattel will be Roger Lynch, the chief executive of the publishing giant Condé Nast, which both companies announced on Wednesday morning. The moves happened so quickly that Mr. Lynch notified Condé’s board of his departure only on Monday, according to Steven Newhouse, a co-president of Advance Publications, Condé’s parent company.
The announcement on Wednesday came just minutes after a judge approved a settlement resolving an antitrust lawsuit filed by a group of state attorneys general against Paramount, the last hurdle for Paramount’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The deal is expected to close in early October.
The settlement requires Mr. Ellison to spend an additional $1.5 billion on films and TV shows over the next five years, distribute 30 movies annually and negotiate distribution deals for the company’s cable channels separately. It also called for the creation of an editorial independence board for CNN and CBS News to ensure the integrity of the company’s news operations.
The hiring of Mr. Kreiz is not the only move Mr. Ellison has made in solidifying his new executive suite. On Tuesday, Cindy Holland, Paramount’s streaming chief, announced she was stepping down to make room for her counterpart at Warner Bros. Discovery, Casey Bloys, the chairman of HBO, who is expected to assume a top programming role at the combined company.
Katie Robertson contributed reporting.
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