Shortly after 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning, Ynon Kreiz, David Ellison and the complete Skydance administration crew walked throughout the ground of the New York Inventory Change in decrease Manhattan to the sales space operated by Citadel Securities, the place a big gold bell had been put in.
They have been there for the primary transaction, a ceremony the NYSE holds each time a public firm rings the opening bell, a second reserved for cameras. Citadel dealer Peter Giacchi introduced the commerce. “I’ve $9 on 519,000 shares!” he shouted, as Ellison held a picket mallet, banging the bell because the band burst into applause.
Then Kreiz took the gavel and despatched a cannon blast on the bell that was so loud that one of many Citadel merchants circled in shock, and even Wall Avenue veteran Gerry Cardinale raised his eyebrows.
As anybody who has ever shaken Kreiz’s hand will inform you, he initiatives energy and operates with pressure and with out hesitation. Kriez is a eager kiteboarder whose job after college was as an teacher at a Membership Med and he likes to recollect the story of giving beginning to his child daughter behind a automotive exterior Paddington Station in London.
He’s, as one particular person put it, a “bundle of vitality,” who appeared to flourish most when his (and the corporate’s) backs have been in opposition to the wall. The COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump’s tariffs, the dangerous push into leisure by barbie film. At any time when the stakes have been highest, he rose to the event, turning into the chief the second demanded, from impassive cost-cutting to pivoting when the financial and political winds modified.
Immediately, he is bringing that vitality to a few of Hollywood’s most venerable property, buying and selling dolls for DCs and board video games for backlots.
“There are some questions on David working an organization of this measurement,” says a former Warners government. “Ynon is right here to make traders really feel higher. »
In accordance with individuals who labored with Kreiz at Mattel, he was a visionary chief, centering the toy firm round particular person manufacturers like Barbie, Sizzling Wheels and American Lady. Certainly one of his first duties was to create an in-house leisure division. In spite of everything, why license the mental property for its toy field when Mattel may reap a number of the monetary reward itself? The enterprise mannequin appeared foolproof: take toys with built-in viewers attraction and make a film that will attraction to that viewers, which might in flip promote extra toys.
On the time, the Lego The movie was an enormous success and spawned a movie franchise with spin-off movies, sequence and video video games. And Disney was making some huge cash from nostalgic remakes of their basic animated movies a la Aladdin And Magnificence and the Beast.
“We take a look at Marvel as a very good analogy,” Kreiz stated. Time in 2022 earlier than Mattel launched a single characteristic movie however had a complete slate in improvement. “That is what we consider we are able to obtain by way of the energy, attraction and built-in fan base of our franchises.”
Kriez, who was beforehand president of Fox Youngsters Europe, joined the corporate in 2018 and started in search of a head of leisure. He made what many thought-about an unconventional selection by selecting Robbie Brenner, a veteran impartial producer with bona fide studio exec, who was an Oscar nominee because of the 2013 drama. Dallas Consumers Membership.
The listing that emerged was targeted on filmmakers, with pairings of seemingly Mad Libs administrators and abilities like M. Night time Shyamalan, Clea DuVall, and Ayo Edebiri with well-known toys like Magic 8 Ball, Polly Pocket, and Barney.
The primary venture launched simply occurs to deal with Mattel’s largest property: barbie. And many individuals, together with the movie’s greatest creators, credit score Kriez with actively supporting the Greta Gerwig movie starring Margot Robbie.
“The Mattel board was nervous and afraid the idea can be too subversive. However they supported Robbie they usually supported Greta,” says a supply. The movie consists of the Mattel emblem positioned over swear phrases and a body of Mattel being shot with a (pretend!) arrow, to not point out Will Ferrell taking part in the movie’s villain as a bumbling CEO, all selections that might have been closed off. Stated the supply, “[Ynon] made the corporate snug being uncomfortable about it.
“Ynon has an ideal humorousness and I believe he discovered it humorous,” Brenner stated. THR in 2023. “To be contained in the joke, to be a part of it, and to have the ability to giggle at ourselves, all of us needed to encourage one another by saying it is humorous. In case you’re not laughing at your self, another person is.”
In a quote that maybe greatest sums up Kriez’s distinctive capability to stroll the fragile line between entrepreneurship and the creativity that’s required because the chief of an leisure firm, Kriez stated of the Ferrell CEO skewering: “We take our manufacturers very significantly. We take what we do very significantly. However we do not take ourselves too significantly.”
Not all of Mattel’s movies have been main hits or obtained crucial acclaim like Barbie. Masters of the Universe was a bomb for Amazon MGM Studios this summer time, whereas the brand new field of matches The movie – made with Skydance and on Apple TV+ as we speak, has been slammed by critics.
However barbie proved to be a smash hit, grossing over $1.4 billion on the worldwide field workplace, with gross sales of the doll leaping 16% within the fiscal quarter following the movie’s launch. It was additionally throughout barbieThe discharge of this movie shook the entire of Hollywood. Barbie premiered on July 9 in Los Angeles, and fewer than every week later, SAG joined the WGA in its strikes, which slowly led on to our present second of M&A and consolidation.
Simply as Kriez proved adept at steering an organization by a Hollywood increase cycle, he shortly set to work navigating the recession, along with a altering political local weather.
Mattel skilled a number of rounds of layoffs over the course of 2025 and into 2026, finally impacting practically 300 workers on the firm’s headquarters in El Segundo. Moreover, final yr, as the brand new Trump administration started waging a federal battle in opposition to all the things it thought-about to be variety, fairness and inclusion, Mattel, together with main leisure firms together with Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon have deserted these efforts. The corporate opted out of revealing its DEI info to traders, eradicating any reference to objectives and assets geared toward boosting variety throughout the firm.
It is these extra stark moments of management that Kriez might want to name upon as he takes on the position of co-CEO of Skydance. That ax must come to Skydance quickly, though Kirez insisted Thursday that many of the $6 billion in synergies will not come from employees reductions.
“In terms of making these choices, after all we take into consideration our individuals,” Kreiz stated on the NYSE ground, minutes earlier than ringing the bell, chatting with CNBC’s David Faber. We are going to do it the proper means, with respect, transparency, and talk our plans. This will likely be a part of the plan.