UPDATE 10/5: It’s official: the Skydance leadership team names Bloys Co-Chair and Chief Content Officer of Skydance DTC, with JB Perrette joining him as Co-Chair.
UPDATE 10/2 #2: Our insiders reveal why Bloys won: HBO’s top producers, Matt Reeves included, lobbied Ellison to keep him over Holland.
UPDATE 10/2: David Ellison has announced the combined company’s name: Skydance.
UPDATE 10/1: With HBO Max and Paramount+ headed under one roof, our insiders say Harry Potter will be on both.
UPDATE 9/30: The next shake-up is here. Ellison has named Mattel’s Ynon Kreiz Co-CEO of the combined Paramount Warner Bros.
UPDATE 9/29: The Wall Street Journal now reports David Ellison has picked Bloys to oversee streaming for the combined company, with Ellison concerned that losing him would damage the HBO brand. Per the WSJ, more executive shake-ups are expected once the court approves the merger settlement, which could come as early as this week.
There’s more: Back in October of last year, in its report about Taylor Sheridan exiting Paramount, Puck News reported: “Some of Sheridan’s budgets have been questioned by incoming streaming chief Cindy Holland, according to sources.”
Previously:
Cindy Holland is out at Paramount, days before the $111 billion Warner Bros. merger closes.
Holland announced Tuesday she is stepping down as Chair of Direct-to-Consumer, the job running Paramount+ and Pluto TV, writing in a memo to staff that “David is optimizing for HBO stability” and that “today will mark my last day here.”
Casey Bloys has not been announced as her successor. But the trades agree on where this points.
Variety reports the HBO boss is poised to take the top job over HBO, HBO Max, and Paramount+ once the merger closes, with WBD streaming business chief JB Perrette possibly joining him. Deadline calls Bloys the likely streaming head of the combined company.
David Ellison called Holland “one of the most exceptional executives in our industry” in a statement, via Deadline.
Holland helped build Netflix’s original programming with shows like House of Cards, joined Ellison as an advisor in January 2025, and took over Paramount’s streaming in August 2025.
Photograph by Presley Ann/Getty Images for WarnerMedia & Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for WarnerMedia
Image via WBD official press site
Neither Would Report To The Other
Deadline had reported the standoff last week: whether Bloys and Holland both stayed came down to how streaming leadership got set up, since neither would report to the other.
Puck went further, with an industry veteran saying Bloys let everyone know from the start he was never reporting to Holland, betting Ellison values him too much to force it.
Bloys won that bet on Tuesday.
The structure question has been coming since September 9, when we reported HBO Max could be gone and Bloys out because the combined company has to consolidate streaming.
Paramount already put its streaming endgame in writing, and the merger is cleared to close. Holland’s exit settles it.
“But Ya Gotta Pay”
Earlier Tuesday, we reported our insiders say Bloys is playing competing offers through the transition.
“He’s letting all the streamers know he’s up for grabs,” a Paramount insider told us. “But ya gotta pay.”
The same source said the only exits Bloys would take are reporting straight to Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro or Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, and noted his HBO deal runs into late 2027.
On Tuesday, Holland exited. The trades point one way: the job is Bloys’ to take.
