Skydance lays out international exec team

Skydance has set its senior international team under JB Perrette, with Warner Bros Discovery’s UK & Ireland chief among a host of departures and Reemah Sakaan taking on a larger remit.

Andrew Georgiou, who had led WBD UK & Ireland prior to Paramount’s $111bn deal for WBD, is to take on an interim role overseeing Europe and Africa but will depart Skydance next year to take on the role of chief executive of investment platform Global Sport Group early next year.

A replacement will be sought, who will work alongside Perrette’s three other international chiefs: James Gibbons, who oversees APAC and MENA; Kasia Kieli, who retains oversight in Poland; and Fernando Media, whose remit covers Lat Am and US Hispanic.

EMEA structure & departures

On the EMEA front, Georgiou’s replacement will have oversight of a team that includes Reemah Sakaan. The president of 5 and MD for UK & Ireland will retain her remit, adding broader oversight of the company’s UK and Ireland entertainment business.

Alessandro Araimo has been named MD of Southern Europe, and has responsibility for Italy, Spain, France, as well as Turkey and Africa, while Qaisar Rafique is exec vice president of commercial development and will lead on distribution and business development in Europe, as well as oversight for Central and Eastern Europe (excluding Poland).

Christina Sulebakk is MD of Nordics, Benelux, Germany, Switzerland and Austria,

Execs departing the business include: Jamie Cooke, WBD’s exec vice-president of Central Europe, Middle East, Turkey and Africa; Paramount+ international chief Marco Nobili; Pank Patel, who had led Paramount’s international networks; and Juan Sola, who had headed up WBD streaming in Lat Am.

Dan Barnes, head of global ad revenue for HBO Max, is also exiting alongside Michael Bishara, exec vice-president and GM of global streaming and digital networks at WBD, and Paramount marketing chief Domenic DiMeglio.

Leah Hooper, who was HBO Max’s regional streaming lead for Europe prior to the merger is returning from leave to continue her role in January, reporting to Perrette.

WBITVP & global team 

Perrette also confirmed WBD’s International TV Production president Ronald Goes, who previously reported into WBD’s now departed international boss Gerhard Zeiler, will now report to Warner Bros. TV chair Channing Dungey. She in turn is adding responsibility for Skydance’s international TV production to her remit.

Perrette also confirmed a raft of appointments to the senior global team, with Trey Turner named chief operating officer of international, in addition to his responsibilities in finance.

Moving to Turner’s team will be Patel’s strategy team, Louis Goldstein, Vanessa Brookman, Lee Hobbs and Myriam Lopez-Otazu.

Josh Walker is COO and CFO of Skydance’s DTC operations, reporting to Perrette and content chief Casey Bloys, and Skydance finance chief Dennis Cinelli.

Walker is responsible for business strategy and planning, content strategy, planning, analysis and acquisitions, pricing, podcasting and project/program management.

Liz Wright is CFO of Skydance TV, Shauna Spenley is chief marketing officer for global DTC and international TV, and the David Ellison-led company is recruiting for a head of Pluto/AVOD, which Perrette described as a “big and important business”.

Reporting into the yet-to-be appointed role will be Olivier Jollet, Will Gurman, and Kevin Kroll.

Perrette, who was named co-chair and chief business officer of Skydance TV and Skydance Direct-to-Consumer last month, said the changes were being made in an industry that “continues to evolve at pace.”

In a note to staff, he wrote: “We need to aggressively drive each business forward while also being attentive to maximize the strategic and financial opportunities between the two, and at the same time be transparent and data-led when there are inevitable trade-offs that need to be decided… make them with speed, and stay clear that our north star is what’s in the best interest of the overall Skydance company (not individual units, countries or other agendas).”

Perrette said he wants to “leverage strong local/regional expertise and relationships, and global scale and capabilities”, adding that success “will require everyone to make this local and global set-up a powerful network vs. a dreaded matrix. The focus needs to be on collaboration and putting points on the board to ensure we win, rather than who put them on the board.”

He thanked departing execs, adding: “The painful part in these transitions is that we have to say goodbye to many talented leaders who have delivered significant value to the prior companies, and more importantly, have been great friends, colleagues, and mentors to so many.”

Perrette said there would “undoubtedly be further clarifications and refinements” to the international teams, particularly within sub-teams “that will need to be more specifically realigned to this new structure.”