Judge Clears Paramount-WBD Deal; Mattel’s Kreiz Named Co-CEO

A U.S. federal judge cleared the last major legal barrier to Paramount’s roughly $110–111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on Wednesday, and Paramount named Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz co-CEO of the combined company at closing, Reuters and Variety reported.

U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín approved a Sept. 21 settlement with a California-led group of 12 states that had sued to block the deal. Reuters quotes the judge calling the consent decree a “reasonable factual and legal resolution,” while Variety notes she found it a “procedurally sound” compromise even as objectors wanted tougher structural remedies.

Under the settlement terms both outlets describe, the combined company must keep a theatrical commitment—Reuters cites at least 30 U.S. theatrical releases a year for five years plus an extra $300 million a year in U.S. production spending, with Miramax divestiture risk if film quotas are missed—and negotiate basic-cable carriage separately for the two companies’ channel groups. A journalism board is to oversee CBS News and CNN. The companies said the merger is expected to close Oct. 6.

Separately on Wednesday, Paramount said Kreiz will join Oct. 5 and become co-CEO alongside chairman and CEO David Ellison when the deal closes, running day-to-day operations and integration while Ellison focuses on strategy, creative, and technology, Reuters reports. Kreiz has led Mattel since 2018 and previously ran Maker Studios and Endemol; Variety notes the merged entity’s businesses will jointly report to Ellison and Kreiz.

Leadership around streaming is still taking shape: Variety recounts that HBO’s Casey Bloys is widely expected to oversee combined streaming after Paramount+ chief Cindy Holland stepped down Tuesday, and that Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is expected to depart at close. Those personnel outcomes are industry expectations reported by Variety, not a formal Paramount org chart in the Wednesday filings.

For readers following studio consolidation on Studio, verified as of Sept. 30–Oct. 1 reports: judge approved the state AGs’ settlement; close targeted for Oct. 6; Kreiz named co-CEO at closing effective with an Oct. 5 start; theatrical and cable commitments plus news-board terms are part of the consent decree; Bloys/Holland/Zaslav notes remain attributed industry expectation unless separately announced.