Cindy Holland Exits Paramount as HBO Max Merger Looms
Cindy Holland is leaving Paramount after just over a year running its streaming business.
Holland announced the departure in a company memo on 29 September, reported by Deadline. She served as Chair of Direct-To-Consumer — the division that runs services delivered straight to viewers — since the close of the Skydance-Paramount merger in August 2025.
Her exit is tied to Paramount's next deal. Chief executive David Ellison has said HBO Max and Paramount+ will merge into one streaming platform after Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. Ellison plans for Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO of HBO and HBO Max Content, to lead that combined business as a way of optimising for stability at HBO.
Holland was recruited by Ellison as an adviser in January 2025 to help draft the post-merger streaming strategy for Paramount. She became Chair of Direct-To-Consumer in August 2025, overseeing Paramount+ and Pluto TV, the free service where viewers watch with ads rather than a subscription.
In her memo, Holland set out three goals from the start of that work: advise on the Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition, integrate and reshape Paramount+ and revive Pluto TV, and build a team. She has hired Jane Wiseman and Efrain Miron to Paramount Skydance's streaming leadership team, according to Variety.
Holland is best known from her earlier run as head of originals at Netflix. She was behind its first push into original programming, including House of Cards and The Crown. She later served as Global CEO of Sister before stepping down in October 2024 to become a senior adviser to Skydance.
That advisory role began while Skydance was still seeking regulatory approval for Paramount. The Federal Communications Commission approved that merger on 24 July, with a formal close set for 7 August. Ellison made his first unsolicited offer for Warner Bros. Discovery in September 2025, before that process had even finished.
Pluto TV sat at the centre of her brief. Holland has said the free service is central to Paramount's direct-to-consumer strategy, and Paramount pointed in April to new exclusive series aimed at viewers aged 18 to 34.
For viewers, this means a change at the top just as two large libraries prepare to sit under one roof. Holland built the current streaming team. Bloys is now expected to run what comes next.
