Ynon Kreiz to receive over $46.5M first-year pay as Paramount co-CEO, per SEC filing

Paramount disclosed in an SEC filing on Thursday 1 October 2026 the terms of a five-year employment contract for Ynon Kreiz, 61, as co-CEO of the combined Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery. 1 2 Kreiz was named co-CEO on Wednesday, the same day Mattel announced their exit as its CEO; Paramount's board approved the appointment on Sunday, according to Deadline. 2 Variety reports the first-year package at the merged company will total more than $46.5 million, including a one-time signing award of restricted stock units (RSUs) valued at $31.5 million. 1

Deadline instead says Kreiz will collect at least $35.1 million a year by 2027, and describes the filing as setting out two sets of figures, one for the brief pre-merger period and one for after the deal closes. 2 After the merger closes, the annual base salary is $5 million and the annual bonus target is $4.9 million; Deadline says these rise from $3.5 million and $1.5 million respectively in the pre-merger period. 1 2 The equity terms include a 1.25 million-share Class B common stock award (Variety calls it the "pre-closing award"; Deadline also mentions eligibility for 2.6 million Class B shares), RSUs worth up to $5.1 million granted within 15 days of the merger closing and prorated for the remainder of the first year, and an annual equity award of $20.1 million on the first anniversary of employment. 1 2

Variety says the stock awards, other than the signing award, vest in equal quarterly installments over three years, subject to continued employment. 1 Kreiz's employment starts on 5 October, a day before the merger is due to close; the deal is valued at $111 billion by Variety and $110 billion by Deadline. 1 2 Both outlets compare the package with Kreiz's Mattel pay: $15.1 million in 2025, which Deadline adds followed $18.9 million in 2023 and $37.8 million in 2024, putting the new package at the high end of recent pay. 1 2

Deadline adds that the merger had been held in limbo for two months by a legal challenge from 12 state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America, and that the board cited Kreiz's "extensive leadership experience in the media and entertainment industry" (including at Endemol Group, Maker Studios and Fox Kids Europe) in also appointing them to the board. 2