HBO Max chief JB Perrette jumps to Skydance to run TV and streaming business
JB Perrette is leaving Warner Bros. Discovery to run streaming and TV business operations at Skydance.
Skydance confirmed its new organisation on Monday, 5 October 2026. Upon close of the $110 billion deal combining Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, Perrette will serve as Co-Chair and Chief Business Officer of both Skydance DTC and Skydance TV, Deadline reported.
DTC means direct-to-consumer, the streaming services sold straight to viewers. In the two business roles, Perrette will have direct global oversight of distribution, advertising sales, content sales, DTC strategy, marketing and business operations.
He will sit alongside programming leaders. Casey Bloys will serve as co-chair and chief content officer of Skydance DTC, while George Cheeks will serve as head of Skydance TV, Deadline reported. One side handles the business machine. The other handles what gets made.
The timing is tight. Skydance was due to close the deal on Tuesday morning, 6 October, with Perrette set to join Co-CEOs David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz and others at a press conference that afternoon on the Paramount lot.
The appointments are part of a much larger merger. David Ellison named the senior team to run the combined company on 5 October, Los Angeles Times reported. The combined company plans to change its legal name to Skydance Corporation on 6 October, according to a regulatory filing cited by Reuters.
That follows a long run-up. Skydance closed its deal to buy Paramount about a month earlier. Paramount had explored a deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery about a year before that, Deadline reported.
Perrette arrives with a streaming CV built over almost two decades. At Warner Bros. Discovery he was head of global streaming and gaming. He led the global rollout of HBO Max across more than 130 markets, including the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy.
Viewers will know that service by several names. HBO Max was rebranded to Max in 2023 and then reverted to HBO Max in 2025.
Before that, Perrette was head of digital at Discovery, where he helped launch Eurosport’s streaming service and Discovery+. He spent 11 years at NBCUniversal, rising to president of digital and affiliate distribution. He was also one of the key executives behind Hulu’s 2007 launch as a joint venture with Fox and later served for several years on Hulu’s board.
He is not the only familiar name in the new structure. Mark Thompson will run CNN and Bari Weiss will run CBS News, TheWrap reported. Paramount film chiefs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein are in the C-suite, alongside Thompson, with James Gunn also included in the leadership team.
A March filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission said Perrette would receive $142 million in various deal-related proceeds connected to the merger.
For people watching at home, this is where schedules get set. Business chiefs organise sales and distribution. Content chiefs order series. Crews get hired when those two sides agree.
