Paramount Skydance Hires Dennis Cinelli, Former Uber and Scale AI Exec, as CFO Amid Warner Bros. Discovery Takeover Fight

Paramount Skydance is bringing on finance exec Dennis Cinelli as chief financial officer - with his appointment coming as the company is in the midst of a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. Cinelli, most recently CFO of artificial-intelligence company Scale AI, had joined Paramount’s board in September 2025 , shortly after David Ellison’s Skydance Media completed the acquisition of Paramount Global. He will join Paramount Skydance as CFO effective Jan. 15, 2026, and as such has resigned from his position on the board. In the CFO role, Cinelli succeeds Andrew Warren, who has served as EVP and interim CFO since June 2025. According to Paramount, Warren will continue to serve as a strategic adviser to the company’s senior management. Popular on Variety Paramount also announced the addition of Andrew Campion, chairman and CEO of Unrivaled Sports and a former Nike and Disney executive, as an independent director to the company’s board, effective as of Jan. 13. Cinelli takes the CFO job at Paramount Skydance as Ellison has launched a campaign aimed at persuading Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders that his company’s all-cash $30/share offer for WBD in its entirety is superior to Netflix’s agreement to buy Warner Bros.’s studios and streaming businesses. Paramount has sued WBD , seeking to force it to disclose financial details related to the Netflix pact, and says it plans to launch a proxy battle by nominating a slate of directors for election at Warner Bros. Discovery’s 2026 shareholder meeting. Netflix is reportedly preparing a revised, all-cash offer to buy the WBD assets to counter Paramount’s pressure campaign. At Scale AI, Cinelli oversaw the company’s rapid revenue growth and strategic fundraising, including an investment by Meta that valued the company at nearly $30 billion. Prior to that, he served as Uber’s head of mobility for the U.S. and Canada, where he was “instrumental” in taking the company public, according to Paramount. Prior to Uber, Cinelli served as CFO for GE Ventures. “I have known Dennis for many years and have enormous respect for his financial acumen and tremendous track record of guiding high-growth technology companies, including GE Ventures, Uber and Scale AI, through periods of scale and transformation,” David Ellison, Paramount’s chairman and CEO, said in an announcing Cinelli’s appointment. “He brings deep expertise across direct-to-consumer, media and industrial sectors, as well as AI and other disruptive technologies, and will be an outstanding addition to our leadership team as we continue to drive growth and innovation.” Cinelli, 42, signed a five-year employment contract with Paramount that entitles him to an annual base salary of no less than $2.625 million and an annual bonus targeted at $1.125 million, per an SEC filing by the company. In addition, Cinelli will be granted an award of 3.75 million shares of Paramount Skydance’s Class B common stock that will vest in equal quarterly installments over a five-year period. Cinelli also receive a special one-time signing bonus of $500,000, and he is eligible to receive reimbursement for up to $500,000...

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