Ynon Kreiz is the new Co-CEO of the combined Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery company, and the man who once ran the toy aisle is now headed for the corner office. Paramount Skydance Chairman and CEO David Ellison announced the appointment on September 30, 2026, and Kreiz starts at Paramount on October 5. The timing is tidy, since the roughly $110 billion acquisition is expected to close around October 6, and his Mattel exit lands around October 2.

As the merger clock ticks toward October 6, the best way to understand the man is to rewind to where he started.

Ynon Kreiz was born in 1965 in the Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan area, to an engineer father and a psychologist mother who was raised in the UK. He completed mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces, then earned a bachelor's degree in economics and management from Tel Aviv University in 1991. A move to Los Angeles followed, and an MBA from UCLA's Anderson School of Management in 1993, a fairly long commute from home.

Outside the classroom, young Kreiz collected Hot Wheels cars and cheered for Manchester United with full commitment. Foreshadowing has rarely been this obvious, since Hot Wheels would later sit under his command. He also worked as a windsurfing instructor in the Caribbean, which probably beat most entry-level desk jobs. Today he is an avid kite surfer who rises early for it, and he is married to Anat Fabrikant, a former Olympic sailor, with whom he has four children.

While Kreiz finished business school, a meeting with a media mogul was about to change his address again.

At UCLA, Ynon Kreiz met Israeli-American media mogul Haim Saban, and by 1994 the two were business partners. That partnership sent Kreiz to London to build Fox Kids Europe, a children's TV network launched as a joint venture with News Corporation. He served as Chairman and CEO from 1997 to 2002, and the channel grew into one of Europe's fastest-growing pay-TV networks, reaching around 54 to 56 countries in 17 languages. Disney later acquired a majority stake.

The next chapters read like a guided tour of the entertainment business. Kreiz spent 2005 to 2007 as a General Partner at Benchmark Capital Europe, then ran Endemol Group from 2008 to 2011, the production giant behind Big Brother and Deal or No Deal. In 2012, he joined Maker Studios as Chairman and became CEO a year later. Disney bought the YouTube network in 2014 for $500 million, plus up to $450 million in incentives.

As the Maker chapter closed, a toy company in need of a turnaround was about to find its new boss.

Ynon Kreiz joined Mattel as CEO in April 2018, succeeding Margo Georgiadis, and added the Chairman title in May. His plan was to turn a toy maker into an entertainment company built on intellectual property, stretching across film, television, digital games, live events, publishing, and consumer products. The numbers backed him up, with 2021 net sales rising 19% and operating income climbing 95%. Credit ratings improved, and Mattel held the top spot in key toy categories.

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Then came the 2023 Barbie movie, made by Warner Bros. Pictures, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie. It finished as the top global box office release of the year, passed $1.4 billion worldwide, and became Warner Bros.' highest-grossing film ever. Gerwig and Robbie handled the red carpet, while Kreiz collected a very persuasive line for his résumé. TIME named him one of its 100 Most Influential People in 2024, and Cannes Lions picked him as Entertainment Person of the Year.

While Warner Bros. once partnered with Mattel on Barbie, the studio now joins Kreiz's daily agenda.

David Ellison will handle long-term strategy, creative direction, talent relationships, strategic partnerships, technology, and capital allocation. Ynon Kreiz takes the day-to-day management and the integration of the combined businesses, which is a polite way of saying he gets the biggest spreadsheet in Hollywood. The businesses will report jointly to both leaders. Ellison has said the integration calls for the kind of operating strength Kreiz brings, and both men describe a creator-first, tech-forward company.

The deal cleared its path after a federal judge approved a settlement. Kreiz and Ellison will also help appoint the members of any editorial independence board for CBS News and CNN, while Roger Lynch, the former Condé Nast CEO, takes over at Mattel. The combined library includes Harry Potter, DC Comics and Star Trek, a long way from a toy car collection in Ramat Gan. With Paramount's Warner Bros. takeover nearing the finish line as the co-CEO era begins, Kreiz is about to find out just how far that road goes.

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What are your thoughts on Ynon Kreiz becoming the new Co-CEO of the combined Paramount-Warner Bros. company? Let us know in the comments.