Who is Ynon Kreiz, the new co-CEO of the combined Paramount-Warner Bro. company?

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The CEO who helped bring the “Barbie” movie to the big screen is slated to co-lead the anticipated Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery mega-company.

Ynon Kreiz, the former chief executive of Mattel, will be a co-CEO of the combined company, Paramount chairman and CEO David Ellison announced Wednesday in a press release.

Kreiz’s appointment came shortly after a federal judge approved last week’s settlement , clearing the way for Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. (WBD is the parent company of CNN.)

“In Ynon, I’m adding a partner with strong leadership and the operating firepower this integration demands,” Ellison said in the press release.

Kreiz will start at Paramount on October 5, a day before Paramount expects to close the deal. According to Wednesday’s press release, the two men will share responsibilities: While Ellison “will lead all strategy, creative and technology,” Kreiz “will oversee the Company’s day-to-day operations and integration of the combined businesses.”

The only confirmed members of the merged Paramount-WBD’s board so far are Ellison and Kreiz. They will be part of the list of people who can appoint members of the editorial independence board for CBS News and CNN.

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Kreiz has been chairman and CEO of toymaker Mattel since 2018 and, in that time, expanded the company’s famous IP, such as Hot Wheels, into Hollywood movies. It was all part of his broad strategy to transform Mattel’s image from a toy manufacturer to an entertainment powerhouse.

His crown jewel is undeniably the blonde, gleaming Barbie.

Though a Barbie movie had long been discussed, Kreiz told Bloomberg he began focusing on the movie three weeks into joining the company.

Mattel was in a tough spot when Kreiz joined as CEO in 2018, going through a rotating door of chief executives over four years. While brands like Barbie saw a short-lived boost during the pandemic, Kreiz was credited with helping turn the company around with Barbie-mania in 2023.

“Barbie was invented in 1959, but Barbie is so much more than a doll. Barbie is a pop culture icon,” Kreiz said in a Bloomberg interview last year. He added that the character was “the poster child” of the strategy to keep its household names culturally relevant through entertainment.

The “Barbie” movie made history with a $1 billion box office three weeks into opening, and Mattel made over 100 brand deals for the movie, from an insurance commercial to nail polish.

Warner Bros. distributed “Barbie,” which became the company’s highest grossing film in its history.

But the hype wasn’t as sustained, and Kreiz leaves as Mattel faces its own headwinds. Mattel shares dropped 4.24% on Wednesday, and it has been down 36% this year. Though Hot Wheels grew in its latest earnings, Barbie’s total sales dropped 16%.

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Kreiz was born in Israel and lived there until he was 26, he told Bloomberg in 2025. He has a Bachelor of Arts from Tel Aviv University and an MBA from UCLA.

He’s been described in different articles as a bit of a fitness fanatic. The Los Angeles Times described him as waking up between 4:30 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. to kiteboard; The Hollywood Reporter, meanwhile, opened its 2009 profile on Kreiz with him “pounding the cross-trainer.”

Kreiz has always been in show business. He began his career as co-founder, chairman and CEO of Fox Kids Europe NV after meeting Israeli American media mogul Haim Saban. It was eventually sold to Disney.

Before joining Mattel, he was chairman and CEO of Maker Studios, a multi-channel network on YouTube that was also acquired by Disney in 2014. He had also been chairman and CEO of Endemol Group, a television production company that created shows like “Big Brother” and “Deal or No Deal”; and he’d been a general partner at Balderton Capital.

His appointment is a good get for Ellison, Seaport Research Partners Senior Analyst David Joyce said on Bloomberg on Wednesday.

“He does have very good operating chops,” Joyce said. “He also has a lot of global experience. He has branding experience given the Mattel brands. Plus, he has media and entertainment experience.”

Kreiz will be stepping into the a controversial mega-company in the midst of a rapidly changing media landscape. But this could have drawn him to the role in the first place.

“I relish the challenge,” Kreiz said in a 2024 LinkedIn interview about taking the CEO position at Mattel. “I believe in stepping into complicated situations and try to find a way to create or find that economic model that will create value.”

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曾帮助将“芭比”电影搬上大银幕的CEO，将共同领导备受期待的派拉蒙和华纳兄弟探索频道巨头公司。

派拉蒙影业董事长兼首席执行官大卫·埃里森周三在一份新闻稿中宣布，美泰公司前首席执行官伊农·克雷兹将担任合并后公司的联席首席执行官。

克雷兹的任命是在联邦法官批准上周的和解协议后不久做出的，该协议为派拉蒙收购华纳兄弟探索频道扫清了障碍。（华纳兄弟探索频道是CNN的母公司。）

埃里森在新闻稿中表示：“Ynon 的加入，为我带来了一位拥有强大领导力和强大运营能力的合作伙伴，能够满足此次整合的需求。”

克雷兹将于10月5日正式加入派拉蒙影业，比派拉蒙预计完成交易的时间提前一天。根据周三发布的新闻稿，两人将分担职责：埃里森“将领导所有战略、创意和技术工作”，而克雷兹“将负责公司的日常运营以及合并后业务的整合”。

目前已确认的派拉蒙-华纳兄弟合并后董事会成员只有埃里森和克雷兹。他们将进入有权任命哥伦比亚广播公司新闻部和美国有线电视新闻网编辑独立委员会成员的人员名单。

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法官批准和解协议后，派拉蒙与华纳兄弟的合并案继续推进

自2018年以来，克雷兹一直担任玩具制造商美泰的董事长兼首席执行官，在此期间，他将公司旗下著名的IP，例如风火轮，拓展到了好莱坞电影领域。这一切都是他旨在将美泰从一家玩具制造商转型为娱乐巨头的整体战略的一部分。

毫无疑问，他最引以为傲的就是那位金发碧眼、光彩照人的芭比娃娃。

虽然芭比电影的拍摄计划早已提上日程，但克雷兹告诉彭博社，他在加入公司三周后才开始专注于这部电影。

2018年克雷兹加入美泰担任首席执行官时，公司处境艰难，四年间首席执行官频繁更迭。虽然像芭比娃娃这样的品牌在疫情期间曾短暂走红，但克雷兹凭借2023年的“芭比热潮”帮助公司扭转颓势，功不可没。

“芭比娃娃诞生于1959年，但她远不止是一个玩偶。芭比娃娃是流行文化的象征，”克雷兹去年在接受彭博社采访时说道。他还补充说，芭比娃娃是“通过娱乐保持其家喻户晓的品牌文化影响力”这一战略的“最佳代表”。

《芭比》电影上映三周票房就突破10亿美元，创造了历史，美泰公司也为这部电影达成了100多项品牌合作协议，涵盖保险广告到指甲油等各个领域。

华纳兄弟公司发行了《芭比之大魔女》，该片成为该公司历史上票房最高的电影。

但热度并未持续，克雷兹离职之际，美泰也面临着自身的困境。美泰股价周三下跌4.24%，今年以来已累计下跌36%。尽管风火轮玩具在最新财报中有所增长，但芭比娃娃的总销售额却下降了16%。

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关于派拉蒙好莱坞计划，我们了解和不了解些什么？

克雷兹出生于以色列，并在那里生活到26岁。他在2025年接受彭博社采访时表示，他拥有特拉维夫大学的文学学士学位和加州大学洛杉矶分校的工商管理硕士学位。

不同的文章都把他描述成一个健身狂热者。《洛杉矶时报》称他凌晨4点半到5点之间起床去玩风筝冲浪；而《好莱坞报道》在2009年对克雷兹的报道开头就写道，他正在“用交叉训练机挥汗如雨”。

克雷兹一直从事演艺行业。他与以色列裔美国传媒大亨海姆·萨班相识后，创立了福克斯儿童频道欧洲公司（Fox Kids Europe NV），并担任董事长兼首席执行官，由此开启了他的职业生涯。该公司最终被迪士尼收购。

在加入美泰之前，他曾担任 Maker Studios 的董事长兼首席执行官，Maker Studios 是 YouTube 上的一个多频道网络，于 2014 年被迪士尼收购。他还曾担任 Endemol Group 的董事长兼首席执行官，Endemol Group 是一家电视制作公司，制作了《老大哥》和《一掷千金》等节目；此外，他还曾是 Balderton Capital 的普通合伙人。

Seaport Research Partners 高级分析师 David Joyce 周三在彭博社表示，埃里森任命他是一项不错的成就。

“他的运营能力非常出色，”乔伊斯说。“他还拥有丰富的全球经验。鉴于他曾负责美泰旗下的品牌，他在品牌建设方面经验丰富。此外，他还拥有媒体和娱乐行业的经验。”

克雷兹将加入一家备受争议的巨型公司，而此时媒体格局正经历着快速变化。但这或许正是他最初被这份工作吸引的原因。

“我乐于接受挑战，”克雷兹在2024年接受LinkedIn采访时谈到担任美泰首席执行官一职时说道。“我相信应该勇于面对复杂的局面，努力寻找创造价值的经济模式。”