Paramount Skydance hired two more former Google execs as David Ellison pushes to turn the 114-year-old studio into a tech powerhouse alongside its Warner Bros. Discovery deal.
David Ellison's Paramount Skydance has a favorite company to hire from: Google.
Nick Lee, formerly corporate vice president of Microsoft AI, joined as EVP of media systems on Monday. Before Microsoft, Lee spent nearly 17 years at Google as a senior director of engineering. Suzanne Pellican, most recently Google's VP of ads user experience, also started Monday as EVP and head of design. She spent more than eight years at Google and over 14 at Intuit before that.
Product chief Dane Glasgow, himself a former Googler, told employees in a memo Tuesday afternoon that the hires build on "the great work from our already world-class Product & Tech team, while driving renewed focus and investment around critical capabilities that will advance our strategic priorities forward."
A person familiar with the team's strategy said the hires reflect "increased investment and focus" in Paramount's products business.
Lee and Pellican are based in Seattle and the Bay Area, respectively. Paramount has called many staffers back to New York and Los Angeles offices, though some tech employees stayed remote.
Ellison is trying to turn the 114-year-old Paramount into a tech powerhouse alongside a merger with Warner Bros. Discovery. The $110 billion deal to buy WBD is on hold.
Paramount hired former Google VP Hugh Williams, sometimes called "the godfather of doomscrolling," this spring as an EVP. In May, the company brought on Barak Turovsky, who ran Google's AI language product for seven years, as its head of consumer AI.
The latest additions bring the tally of former Google executives at senior product and tech roles to at least five since Ellison took over.
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