EXCLUSIVE: Paramount has confirmed Don McGregor as its global licensing chief, in a restructure that also incorporates the international networks divisions, we can reveal.
As we tipped in November, former NBCUniversal (NBCU) sales chief McGregor will lead global sales for Paramount, with Pank Patel now named as international networks boss. Sonia Endler completes the new-look global team in a structure that brings together the U.S. studio’s global content licensing, global transactional and international media networks units.
They’ll all working under Kevin MacLellan, President of Paramount Global Content Distribution and International Networks.
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McGregor has been confirmed as President of Paramount Content Licensing. He had been consulting for Paramount for several months as terms of his deal were locked down.
The hire puts him in charge of the Paramount Global Content Licensing and Global Transactional unit, with responsibility for maximizing the value of Paramount’s film and television content across all platforms and windows globally – meaning both domestic U.S. and international territories fall under his purview.
His division will oversee licensing across SVOD, pay and free TV, basic cable, free and ad-funded VOD, FAST channels, TVOD, airlines, and other non-theatrical and third-party content representation. Paramount sells the likes of King & Conqueror, Boston Blue and series from the Yellowstone universe, along with movie franchises such as Mission: Impossible and Top Gun.
McGregor had been running his own production business, Flywheel Media, which is attached to upcoming feature films such as The Angry Birds Movie 3, the animated Paramount pic. Prior to that, he had spent 21 years at NBCU. We’ve confirmed Flywheel is continuing operations under co-founder Dan Chuba following McGregor’s exit.
Back at Paramount, Patel – another former Flywheel exec – has been named Head of Paramount International Networks.
This puts him in charge of strategy and operations for Paramount’s international media networks, and we hear his mandate is to streamline operations, improve network performance and increase monetization. He will work closely with the leaders of Paramount’s international ad sales unit, Channel 5 in the UK and Network 10 in Australia to ensure “strategic alignment and implementation of cross divisional strategies.”
Patel worked as Head of Strategy for Flywheel before exiting for Paramount, and has worked in a senior corporate strategy role at The North Road Company. He also worked alongside McGregor at NBCU, where they were part of a division led by MacLellan, who was President of International Television between 2011 and 2013 and then Chairman of Global Distribution and International until 2020.
Endler, meanwhile, has been named Paramount’s Head of Finance, Global Content Distribution. Among her duties is evaluating new business models and programming opportunities, while leading on financial governance and aligning international teams with standards across the business.
Endler was previously a partner at L.A.-based investor Galactic Road and spent five years at MGM as EVP Finance, TV Content and Worldwide TV Distribution. She also worked at WGN America and Tribune Studios as CFO and was Head of Finance at Whalerock Industries. Further back, she held finance roles at Fox, E! and at Paramount Pictures as a financial analyst.
MacLellan’s restructure comes after Paramount made significant layoffs last year amid major industry contraction. The company came under new owner Skydance Media in August, at which point McLellan’s role was confirmed.
Among those who were let go was former international sales chief Lisa Kramer, who had been President of International TV Licensing at Paramount Global Content Distribution. McGregor’s new role takes in her responsibilities, but is more extensive given the globally-focused nature of his new unit.
Paramount said the new structure would “increase monetization across platforms, position the company for the next phase of global content distribution, and improve network performance worldwide through tighter strategic and operational alignment.”
Paramount today sweetened its hostile takeover offer for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), with a new $0.25 a share offer, or a so-called “ticking fee” that’s payable to WBD shareholders for each quarter its transaction has not closed beyond December 31, 2026.
WBD has agreed to a sell its Warner Bros. studios and streaming assets to Netflix and advised shareholders several times to reject advances from Paramount, but the David Ellison company doesn’t seem anywhere near ready to let a deal go yet.