David Ellison Visits Warner Bros, Concedes “Turbulent” Start In Meeting With Execs

Paramount CEO David Ellison made his first public appearance in front of an expectant Warner Bros. Discovery crowd Tuesday, speaking about his company’s impending acquisition of the Burbank-based studio.

Sporting jeans and a dark polo t-shirt, Ellison spoke for about 45 minutes in person to senior leadership (about 150 staffers) in the lot’s Steven J. Ross Theatre. In attendance were motion picture heads Pamela Abdy and Mike 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, among others. More than 300 executives watched via a webcast from U.S. and international locations.

Ellison’s lieutenant, chief operating officer Andy Gordon, was also in attendance, sources who were in the room where it happened tell The Hollywood Reporter.

Ellison and Zaslav had lunch on the Warners lot on March 5 in the executive commissary, but Tuesday’s meeting was a more formal introduction to the team that he will be acquiring in his $111 billion deal that brings together Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, HBO, CBS, CNN and many other major brands.

Many in the room were hoping to hear of a plan moving forward or clarity on timetables or layoffs. Many walked away feeling their hopes were dashed. There was a lot of talk of storytelling and coming together, and Ellison was dismissive of reports of huge layoffs. Yet one person who attended the session adds, “We don’t believe him.”

Another exec says that Ellison came across as passionate and very much a lover of movies. The CEO says he envisions the combined companies spending more on the creation of content than any other media company. Ellison has reiterated that the merged company would release at least 30 theatrical films per year from the combined studios. And he talked of having one streaming platform and one company, while also saying the plan was to keep both studio lots. He was confident and well-spoken, according to sources.

A third executive tells THR that Ellison acknowledged the “turbulent” deal process of getting to today’s place. But that may not have been enough for some in the room. “There is still a tremendous amount of uncertainly over here,” notes this exec. “We were hoping for more.”

To be sure, Ellison has yet to formally close the deal so he can’t say that much in detail. Paramount expects to close the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by the third quarter of this year. And it is incentivized to do so by September 30 or it will have to pay WBD shareholders a “ticking fee” that tacks on an extra 25 cents a share for every quarter that the deal hasn’t closed.

One insider who was in attendance at this session notes that event, 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 contrast to a similar meeting held by Netflix in December. At that time, co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, came to speak to the leadership 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 comparison is unfair. Sarandos had to assuage the concerns of employees on one major question — whether movies would still be released theatrically — and Ellison has many more hot button topics to deal with. And this person says that in the case of Ellison’s visit, folks are still feeling saw and shell-shocked from the deal. “He did okay,” this insider says.

One question asked during the Q&A involved CNN, with Ellison responding that it was essential that new divisions maintain editorial independence. He also referred to CBS News having editorial independence as it is being restructured under Free Press editor Bari Weiss and TV veteran Tom Cibrowski.

After the meeting, Ellison segued to a lunch on the lot with HBO chief Bloys, multiple sources noted.