Ynon Kreiz compensation to hit remarkable $35.1M a year
A $31.5 million stock award up front, and at least $35.1 million a year by 2027. That is the Ynon Kreiz compensation package Paramount disclosed Thursday, Oct. 1, in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing for its incoming co-CEO, according to Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter.
Kreiz, 61, the outgoing chairman and CEO of Mattel, was named Wednesday to help David Ellison run the company Paramount is creating with Warner Bros. Discovery. His five-year contract begins Monday, Oct. 5, a day before the merger is expected to close.
Breaking down the Ynon Kreiz compensation package
The filing sets one pay scale for the few days before the merger and a higher one afterward. Here is how the pieces stack up, per Deadline and THR:
- Signing award: $31.5 million in restricted stock units (RSUs).
- Base salary: $3.5 million a year, rising to $5 million the day after the merger closes. THR called $5 million “on the high side” for media CEOs.
- Annual bonus target: $1.5 million, increasing to $4.9 million after the close.
- First-year equity: RSUs worth up to $5.1 million within 15 days of the close, prorated for the part of the year after the deal.
- Yearly equity: awards worth $20.1 million, starting Oct. 5, 2027.
- Stock eligibility: 2.6 million shares of Class B stock plus a separate award of 1.25 million shares.
Because so much of the Ynon Kreiz compensation deal is paid in stock, what Kreiz actually takes home will move with the combined company’s share price, and some awards carry performance conditions, THR noted.
How it compares with his Mattel pay
The Ynon Kreiz compensation figures put him at or above the top of his recent range at the toymaker. Deadline reported that he earned $18.9 million in 2023, $37.8 million in 2024 and $15.1 million in 2025.
Paramount’s board and Kreiz agreed to the deal on Sunday, Sept. 27, according to THR. The filing also cited his “extensive leadership experience in the media and entertainment industry” in naming him to the board of directors, Deadline reported. The Ynon Kreiz compensation terms were filed with the SEC the day after Paramount announced his appointment.
A co-CEO built for the merger
Under the arrangement announced Wednesday, Ellison stays chairman and CEO and handles strategy, creative direction and technology, while Kreiz oversees daily operations and the integration of the two companies, Variety reported. The combined company’s businesses will report to both men, and it has not yet announced a name.
“I hope you’re as excited as I am to welcome Ynon to our leadership team,” Ellison wrote in a companywide memo, per Variety. RedBird Capital Partners founder Gerry Cardinale, a Paramount board member, said Kreiz “has spent his career at the intersection of media, technology and franchise-building.”
Kreiz leaves Mattel effective Oct. 2 after eight years, and Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch will succeed him (read more on the Mattel CEO change). Mattel credits him with overseeing “Barbie,” the first theatrical release from Mattel Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures’ biggest film ever, Variety noted. He previously ran Endemol Group from 2008 to 2011 and Maker Studios, the YouTube network Disney bought in 2014, and he co-founded Fox Kids Europe, according to Variety. He joined Mattel in 2018.
The deal Kreiz will help run
A federal judge on Sept. 30 approved Paramount’s settlement with 12 states that sued to block the takeover, clearing the way for an Oct. 6 close, The Associated Press reported. Including debt, the buyout is valued at about $111 billion. Our earlier coverage explains Kreiz’s role in Paramount’s two-CEO structure and the consent decree’s rules.