Ynon Kreiz lands $46.5M first-year pay as Paramount-Warner Bros. co-CEO
Ynon Kreiz will earn more than $46.5 million in his first year as co-chief executive of the combined Paramount and Warner Bros.
The pay terms, reported by Variety on Oct. 1, lay out how the Mattel chief will be paid to help run one of Hollywood's largest mergers. Kreiz signed an initial five-year employment contract with Paramount. He starts work on Oct. 5, with the $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. set to close the following day.
His cash pay is fixed. Kreiz will receive an annual base salary of $5 million from the closing of the deal. He is also eligible for an annual bonus targeted at $4.9 million.
Most of the first-year total sits in shares. It includes a one-time signing award of restricted stock units valued at $31.5 million. Restricted stock units are company shares paid out over time, usually tied to staying in the job.
Kreiz will also receive 1.25 million shares of Class B Common Stock as a pre-closing award. Then, within 15 days after the Warner Bros. Discovery closing, he will be granted further units valued at up to $5.1 million, pro-rated for the part of the first year left after closing. On the first anniversary of his Paramount employment, he is due an annual equity award worth $20.1 million.
Those stock awards, apart from the signing grant, vest in equal quarterly instalments over three years. That means he collects them in slices, subject to continued employment.
The package is a sharp step up from Mattel. Kreiz received total compensation of $15.1 million as chief executive of the toy maker in 2025, including a $1.6 million salary. Mattel has named board member Roger Lynch as chief executive to succeed him, according to Reuters. Kreiz will also join Paramount's board when he becomes co-chief executive.
Paramount chairman and chief executive David Ellison announced Kreiz as co-chief executive of the anticipated merged company in a statement published on Sept. 30, Paramount said. The appointment takes effect at closing. Paramount said the role is to help build the next-generation global media company.
The closing now has legal clearance. A U.S. judge allowed Paramount to close the Warner Bros. acquisition, Yahoo Finance reported on Sept. 30. Paramount aims for more than $6 billion in savings connected to the deal.
What makes this stand out is the timing. Pay, leadership and closing are all locked within days of each other. For viewers, the credits have not changed yet. The new structure starts when the deal does.
