Paramount CEO David Ellison made his first public look in entrance of an expectant Warner Bros. Discovery crowd Tuesday, talking about his firm’s impending acquisition of the Burbank-based studio.
Sporting denims and a darkish polo T-shirt, Ellison spoke for about 45 minutes in particular person to senior management (about 150 staffers) in the lot’s Steven J. Ross Theatre. In attendance have been movement image heads Pamela Abdy and Michael De Luca, Warner Bros. TV Group chief Channing Dungey, HBO’s Casey Bloys, head of streaming JB Perrette and DC Studios co-head Peter Safran, amongst others. More than 300 executives watched by way of a webcast from U.S. and worldwide areas.
Ellison’s lieutenant, chief working officer Andy Gordon, was additionally in attendance, sources who have been in the room the place it occurred inform The Hollywood Reporter.
Ellison and Zaslav had lunch on the Warners lot on March 5 in the chief commissary, however Tuesday’s assembly was a extra formal introduction to the crew that he might be buying in his $111 billion deal that brings collectively Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, HBO, CBS, CNN and plenty of different main manufacturers.
Many in the room have been hoping to listen to of a plan shifting ahead or readability on timetables or layoffs. Many walked away feeling their hopes have been dashed. There was numerous speak of storytelling and coming collectively, and Ellison was dismissive of studies of giant layoffs. Yet one one that attended the session provides, “We don’t believe him.”
Another exec says that Ellison got here throughout as passionate and really a lot a lover of films. The CEO says he envisions the mixed firms spending extra on the creation of content material than every other media firm. Ellison has reiterated that the merged firm would launch not less than 30 theatrical movies per 12 months from the mixed studios. And he talked of getting one streaming platform and one firm, whereas additionally saying the plan was to maintain each studio heaps. He was assured and well-spoken, in accordance with sources.
A 3rd govt tells THR that Ellison acknowledged the “turbulent” deal technique of attending to right now’s place. But that will not have been sufficient for some in the room. “There is still a tremendous amount of uncertainly over here,” notes this exec. “We were hoping for more.”
To make sure, Ellison has but to formally shut the deal, so he can’t say that a lot in element. Paramount expects to shut the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by the third quarter of this 12 months. And it’s incentivized to take action by Sept. 30 or it must pay WBD shareholders a “ticking fee” that tacks on an additional 25 cents a share for each quarter that the deal hasn’t closed.
One insider who was in attendance at this session notes that the occasion, which included remarks by David Zaslav and a 30 minute Q&A session, with questions submitted in advance, led by chief communications officer Robert Gibbs, was a stark distinction to an analogous assembly held by Netflix in December. At that point, co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, got here to talk to the management class. “That felt more celebratory and there was a plan,” this exec says. “Here it was like … I don’t know. Just tell us what’s going on.”
One of the sources thinks that the Sarandos-Ellison comparability is unfair. Sarandos needed to assuage the issues of staff on one main query — whether or not films would nonetheless be launched theatrically — and Ellison has many extra hot-button matters to cope with. And this particular person says that in the case of Ellison’s go to, people are nonetheless feeling uncooked and shell-shocked from the deal. “He did OK,” this insider says.
One query requested in the course of the Q&A concerned CNN, with Ellison responding that it was important that information divisions preserve editorial independence. He additionally referred to CBS News having editorial independence as it’s being restructured underneath Free Press editor Bari Weiss and TV veteran Tom Cibrowski.
After the assembly, Ellison segued to a lunch on the lot with HBO chief Bloys, a number of sources famous.
