David Ellison names Skydance team that includes prominent Warner executives

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Set us as preferred Paramount Skydance Chief Executive David Ellison has rolled out his Skydance executive team, which includes several senior Warner Bros.executives who will segue into new roles at the soon-to-be merged Skydance media company.HBO Chairman Casey Bloys, CNN Chairman Mark Thompson, Discovery streaming executive J.B.

Perrette and DC Comics managers James Gunn and Peter Safran will join Ellison at Skydance.Paramount executives will fill out the rest of Ellison’s leadership team.

CBS News Bari Weiss will continue in her current job as editor-in-chief but she will not have a role at the larger CNN Worldwide, which will continue to be managed by Thompson — a move that should help calm an anxious CNN newsroom after much turmoil.The $111-billion merger of Paramount and Warner Bros.Discovery is expected to close Tuesday, disbanding Warner’s corporate structure and retiring Warner investors at $31.17 a share.

The combined company will carry more than $80 billion in debt.By naming the product of two mergers Skydance, David Ellison relegates two of Hollywood’s founding studios to a sub-brand stew and attempts to erase a bunch of controversial hires.The transaction marks the departures of high-level Warner executives, including Chief Executive David Zaslav, Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels and Warner Bros.

studio chiefs Mike DeLuca and Pam Abdy, who learned late last week that they would not be included in the larger entertainment company.Ellison previously announced that former Mattel chief executive, Ynon Kreiz, would run Skydance’s day-to-day operations as co-chief executive.Kreiz started his new job at Skydance on Monday.

Hollywood Inc.Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison has approached Thompson about staying in charge following the merger with Warner Bros.

Discovery.Here are the Skydance divi...