Skydance Names Kotick, Powell Jobs and Blair to Post-Merger Board
Skydance has set the board that will run its newly enlarged entertainment business, adding Ynon Kreiz, Laurene Powell Jobs and Bobby Kotick as directors and former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair as an adviser.
The announcement, titled "Skydance Announces Board, Adding Ynon Kreiz, Laurene Powell Jobs and Bobby Kotick as Directors and Tony Blair as Advisor", was dated 5 October 2026 and issued from Los Angeles and New York, according to the company statement distributed via PR Newswire. It came alongside confirmation that Paramount had completed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery to create the merged company, which is using the shorter Skydance nametag. Skydance
David Ellison will chair the board and continue as Skydance chairman and chief executive, the company said. Kreiz joins as a director and serves as co-CEO, while the rest of the board will include all current members of Paramount's board. Variety
Kotick and Powell Jobs join as independent directors, meaning board members who sit outside day-to-day management. Kotick is the founder and former chief executive of video games publisher Activision, where he spent 32 years in the top job.
Activision Blizzard was sold to Microsoft for $68.7 billion, a deal that closed after Kotick's tenure. His appointment brings games experience directly into the boardroom of a company built around film, television and streaming.
Powell Jobs is the founder and president of Emerson Collective, the social change organisation focused on education, immigration, climate and media. Her board role connects Skydance to philanthropy, investing and storytelling outside Hollywood's usual studio circle.
Blair will serve as a board adviser in a personal capacity, meaning he counsels the board without a director's vote. He is executive chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a not-for-profit organisation, after serving as U.K. prime minister.
The board news followed an outline of the wider leadership team for the combined group. That team will include Bari Weiss, Mark Thompson and Casey Bloys, CNBC reported on 5 October, after Bloomberg reported the line-up was being finalised ahead of the deal closing.
What makes this line-up stand out is its range. A games chief, a civic investor, a former prime minister and two sitting media executives will now sit around the same table. For viewers, this means the decisions about what gets made, bought and scheduled will come from that room.
