Ellison Makes First Major Executive Choice For Paramount

Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison has chosen HBO content chief Casey Bloys to run streaming operations for the combined company after Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, according to people familiar with the matter. Paramount streaming head Cindy Holland is leaving immediately, clearing the way for Bloys.⁠

The appointment is Ellison’s first major executive decision ahead of the planned deal, which values WBD at about $81 billion in equity and $110 billion in enterprise value and would put HBO and HBO Max under Paramount. Holland, the former Netflix programming executive Ellison installed about a year ago to run Paramount+ and related direct-to-consumer platforms, told staff Tuesday was her last day. In a memo she wrote that Ellison was “optimizing for HBO stability” in the next chapter and that she fully supported the choice. Ellison praised her as “a force of nature whose impact on Paramount over the past year has been significant.”⁠

Casey Bloys

The choice ends months of industry speculation over whether Bloys or Holland would lead the merged streaming business or whether they would share it. People familiar with Bloys’s thinking said he was not interested in a co-leadership arrangement. Ellison was concerned that losing Bloys would damage the HBO brand, a central piece of the combined company’s streaming strategy. Bloys has led HBO programming since 2016 after joining the network in 2004 and is associated with series including Succession, The White Lotus, The Last of Us, House of the Dragon, Veep, Euphoria, and Hacks. Holland was a principal architect of Netflix originals such as Stranger Things, House of Cards, and The Crown; at Paramount she oversaw subscriber and engagement gains, live-sports deals, and a Pluto TV overhaul.⁠

Ellison has said Paramount+ and HBO Max will eventually be combined into a single service with more than 200 million subscribers worldwide, though no timeline has been set. Discovery+ would also sit under the same corporate roof. The companies have discussed consolidating technology stacks and cutting costs while keeping HBO creatively distinct.⁠

The leadership change comes as Paramount awaits a federal judge’s approval of last week’s settlement with 12 Democratic state attorneys general who had sued to block the merger on antitrust grounds.