Mattel's Kreiz Takes Paramount Reins After $110B Warner Deal

David Ellison has named Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz as co-CEO of Paramount Skydance, handing him day-to-day operations and the integration of the company's $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. The appointment puts the man behind Barbie, Hot Wheels, and Fisher-Price in charge of one of the world's largest media organizations.

The choice fits a career defined by unconventional bets. Kreiz's track record runs from greenlighting a Barbie movie that mocked his own company to hiring a cafe barista who had no resume beyond service work.

In a commencement address to University of Pennsylvania Wharton School graduates last spring, Kreiz described how he regularly works from a local cafe on weekends and had noticed one barista for his "efficiency and engagement with customers."

"One day, I raised my eyes from my laptop and asked him, 'Where are you from?'" Kreiz recalled.

The man told him he was an Iranian refugee who left his family at 21, spent three years camped in Turkey waiting for a U.S. visa, and arrived in America alone. He held a computer science degree and had taught himself English. His resume listed only barista and server jobs.

"But much more than his grades, this was someone who found the courage to flee a bleak past, to seek a better life, and worked hard on his own with no support to pursue his goals," Kreiz said. "Someone with that kind of determination was worth taking a chance on. Who wouldn't want a person like that on their team?"

Kreiz introduced him to Mattel. The company hired him as an intern, where he became "one of its highest performers," and he now works full-time on Mattel's global technology team.

His advice to graduates: "Look up and make eye contact."

"In the world of Zoom, working from home, and agentic AI, personal interactions and casual conversations are more important than ever," Kreiz said. "For all your training and experience in education, remember, human connection is mankind's greatest superpower. Harness it and you will go very far."

A three-decade climb

Kreiz grew up in a middle-class family in Israel; his father worked as an engineer, his mother as a psychologist. He mapped out a seven-year plan to build a career in American business while still in his late teens. After Israel's mandatory two-year military service, he earned an undergraduate degree in economics and management from Tel Aviv University and an MBA from UCLA's Anderson School of Management in 1993.

In Los Angeles, he met media mogul Haim Saban, then running a children's television company. "I got my MBA at UCLA," Kreiz told Fortune in 2019, "and I got my Ph.D. with Haim."

The two founded Fox Kids Europe, which Kreiz ran from London before selling it to Disney in 2002. He later led Endemol, the Dutch producer behind Big Brother, and moved into venture capital. In 2012 he became CEO of Maker Studios, a user-generated video producer that was nearly out of cash when he arrived. Four years later, he sold it to Disney for $500 million.

Kreiz joined Mattel's board in 2016 and became CEO in 2018, taking over a company that had cycled through four CEOs in four years.

The Barbie bet

At Mattel, Kreiz set out to transform the 81-year-old toy manufacturer into an entertainment and intellectual-property company built around franchises and fans. His riskiest move: turning Barbie into a feature film. The script that landed in his inbox portrayed Mattel unflatteringly.

"Imagine you are me, and the script you've been anxiously waiting for finally lands in your inbox. And in that script, your number one brand is called fascist. Your company is portrayed as the worst in corporate America and you, the CEO, are a chauvinist buffoon," Kreiz told the Wharton graduates.

"Now imagine not only saying yes to this film but staking your company's strategic vision on it."

Kreiz backed director Greta Gerwig and star Margot Robbie and embraced the film's willingness to poke fun at Mattel. The result became 2023's highest-grossing film and remains Warner Bros.' biggest movie ever. Mattel said the film lifted its Barbie business, with doll sales rising 16% in the third quarter of 2023.

That success may explain why Ellison tapped Kreiz to lead Paramount's integration with Warner Bros. "The lesson of the Barbie movie is this: Don't be afraid to break conventions. Not every good idea has a comp," Kreiz said. "If you're looking for precedents, you will not be the one sending them."