David Ellison and his Skydance co-CEO Ynon Kreiz held court in front of journalists on Tuesday. Photo by Nate Jensen courtesy of Skydance “I’m glad it’s over,” David Ellison’s said on Tuesday to a room of reporters. The 43-year-old was perched on a stool at the front of a sound stage on the Paramount lot, dressed in a black blazer, blue T-shirt and jeans. The hastily assembled press conference was supposed to be an opportunity to formally introduce the newly combined company, Skydance.
Whether it was the drawn-out regulatory process — which included a hostile bidding war with Netflix and a bruising antitrust lawsuit — or perhaps just the searing LA heat outside on Melrose, the mood inside was one of weary relief.
“This was a turbulent and at times an ugly process,” Ellison said. “What I want to do now is turn the page.” But not before Ellison and his new co-CEO Ynon Kreiz answered some pressing questions.
The Hollywood press corps was out in full force. We counted at least seven reporters from Penske Media publications including The Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit, Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva and Variety’s Matt Donnelly. Ben Fritz and Joe Flint were on hand from The Wall Street Journal as was CNBC’s Julia Boorstin, who was seated next to The Wrap’s Sharon Waxman.
Ellison and Kreiz said that Warner Bros. and Paramount would maintain separate creative development and identities, (though whether they would compete for projects was unclear). They were non-committal on which of the two lots would emerge as the primary headquarters for the company’s leadership team, saying only that film will be centered on one lot, with TV and streaming on the other.
(On Tuesday, Ellison also added “A Skydance Corporation,” to the famed Warner Bros. water tower.)
Ellison did extend an olive branch to the detractors of the mergers, saying, “I really respect all the people that were apprehensive about this. What I want to be able to do now is turn the page, and actually make sure that we are in the business of rebuilding trust.”
He also reiterated his plan to eventually merge HBO Max and Paramount+ into one streaming service, though not anytime soon. The two will likely be offered as a subscription bundle first.
Perhaps the most controversial part came when he accused Hollywood of letting its guard down which allowed Silicon Valley interlopers like Netflix and Amazon to come in and take over the town. “They held on to the past for too long. It is a certainty that if you don’t disrupt your business someone else will do it. This is the solution to that problem,” he said.
Following the Q&A, reporters mingled (off the record) with Skydance senior leaders including film heads Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, TV head George Cheeks, DC Studios co-chair Peter Safran and newly minted streaming boss Casey Bloys — who was the most popular of the senior leadership team based on the number of reporters who cued up to talk to him.
Skydance ended its first day of Wall Street stock trading down slightly, at $9.51 a share (it opened at $9.77), largely over questions about how the company plans to chip away at its nearly $80 billion in debt.
When asked by Bloomberg’s Dawn Chmielewski about how Skydance could service its debt while also honoring its commitment to spend $40 billion on content, Ellison handed the microphone to Kreiz.
He summed up their strategy in five words: “We have a business plan,” he said.
