Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz May Be Heading to David Ellison’s Paramount-Warner Bros.

Could David Ellison be turning to a veteran chief executive to join the combined Paramount–Warner Bros.?

The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Kreiz told Mattel’s board that he was leaving the toy giant for a senior role at David Ellison’s soon-to-be-combined entertainment company.

Shortly after Mattel announced that Kreiz would be leaving for another role at a public company this morning, the rumor mill was buzzing that he could be returning to the entertainment business, specifically at Ellison’s combined studio.

Kreiz could not be appointed to any position at the combined company until Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín signs off on its settlement with state attorneys general and the deal officially closes.

Paramount was not available for comment.

Kreiz, of course, is no stranger to the entertainment business or to Warner Bros. He was the chief executive responsible for pushing Mattel into entertainment, with box office hits like Barbie. Warners already has a Hot Wheels movie in the works, to be directed by Jon M. Chu.

He previously served as the president of Maker Studios (where he negotiated its sale to Disney), and before that was the CEO of the European production company Endemol.

An industry insider said that Kreiz would be a “formidable” hire for Ellison, given his experience in both entertainment and global operations. While his specific title isn’t yet clear, given his role at Mattel it would certainly be something extremely senior.

His addition to the Paramount-Warners leadership team would give the combined company a veteran operational hand to work alongside Ellison, whose background is in the creative side of the business. Kreiz joined Mattel in 2018 and led the company through both the COVID-19 pandemic and President Trump’s tariffs, each of which was an incredibly challenging problem to deal with for a company with as large a global footprint as Mattel.

When Ellison’s Skydance first acquired Paramount, the company brought on former NBCUniversal chief Jeff Shell to serve as president, though Shell left the company earlier this year after facing a lawsuit from a whistleblower that claimed he shared confidential information (that suit was settled).

On Tuesday, Paramount streaming chief Cindy Holland announced her exit from the company, suggesting that HBO’s Casey Bloys would take over the streaming business once the deal closed.