Ynon Kreiz in talks for senior Paramount role as Mattel exit confirmed

Ynon Kreiz is talking to Paramount about a senior job just as he leaves Mattel.

The former Mattel chairman and chief executive has held discussions with Paramount chief executive David Ellison about taking a senior executive role, according to Deadline. The exact title and brief have not been finalised.

Mattel confirmed the exit on 30 September. Kreiz will step down as chairman and chief executive effective 2 October 2026, the company said in a statement. Former Condé Nast chief executive Roger Lynch will succeed him. Mattel said Kreiz was set to take a senior leadership post at another public company but did not name it.

The Paramount opening has been vacant since Jeff Shell departed as president in April. No appointment has been confirmed. A reported talk is not a hire until the company confirms it.

Kreiz ran Mattel for eight years. By September 2023 he had spent five years reshaping the toymaker around its own characters and brands, a strategy centred on leveraging and monetising its IP, meaning making money from its toys and stories across films, television and products. Before Mattel he led television producer Endemol Group and Fox Kids Europe. He was also a general partner at Balderton Capital, formerly Benchmark Capital Europe.

The talks link two large entertainment stories. Paramount is pursuing Warner Bros. Discovery, the owner of HBO and the Warner Bros. studio. To fund that deal Paramount announced the syndication of a $7.5 billion term loan, essentially a large bank loan sold on to other lenders, on 24 September, Deadline reported. Days later it shopped a $44.4 billion debt offering to bond investors.

Paramount's share price jumped nearly 11% in April after reports of Middle East funds joining its pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery. In June, Variety reported that top Justice Department officials had cleared the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger over objections from department lawyers. The companies had said at that stage they expected the deal to close by September 2026.

For viewers, this matters behind the screen. A senior hire decides what gets ordered, what gets cancelled and how quickly two large programme libraries are combined. Watch for a title. That will show whether Kreiz is being brought in to run operations day to day or to steer something narrower.