Paramount streaming president and CEO Tom Ryan is set to exit the media giant following its $8 billion merger with Skydance, the company announced on Monday after unveiling its new leadership team.
“After 12 phenomenal years entertaining the planet together, the time has come for me to say goodbye. I leave with deep gratitude and pride for a team I love and admire, and for Pluto TV and Paramount+, streaming services that started as bold ideas and have since grown into global powerhouses,” Ryan said in a memo to staff on Monday. “This has been the journey of a lifetime.”
He will continue to support the team in an advisory role to incoming direct-to-consumer chair Cindy Holland and the streaming leadership team to ensure a smooth transition.
Since 2020, Ryan has overseen Paramount+, which has grown to 77.7 million subscribers worldwide since launching in 2021, and free ad-supported streamer Pluto TV, which became profitable six years after launching in 2014, with over $1 billion in annual revenue. Prior to Paramount, Ryan was the co-founder of Pluto TV, which was acquired by Viacom in 2019 for $340 million.
Following his departure from Paramount, Ryan is set to return to his entrepreneurial roots and exploring opportunities to create and scale his next big, disruptive company.
He already serves as chairman of Struck Studio, a startup venture studio he helped launch in 2022. Struck has has launched over half a dozen AI-enabled startups across various industries and raised a $15 million Series A round from investors including Steve Case’s Revolution and USVP, the original lead investor in Pluto TV.He also serves on the boards of Telly and Smule and advising venture capital firms such as SignalFire and Felix Capital
In the second quarter of 2025, Paramount’s direct to consumer division posted a profit of $157 million, up from $26 million a year ago. DTC revenue grew 15% year over year to $2.16 billion, with the segment’s ad revenue falling 4% to $494 million, subscription revenue growing 22% to $1.67 billion and licensing revenue remaining flat at $1 million. Paramount+ shed 1.3 million subscribers, reflecting the expiration of an international hard bundle deal, but revenue grew 23% to $1.8 billion, driven by price increases.
Read Ryan’s full memo to staff below.
Team,
After twelve phenomenal years entertaining the planet together, the time has come for me to say goodbye. I leave with deep gratitude and pride for a team I love and admire, and for Pluto TV and Paramount+, streaming services that started as bold ideas and have since grown into global powerhouses.
This has been the journey of a lifetime. From the early days of Pluto TV — born out of a tiny West Hollywood warehouse (that is now, in true LA fashion, a cannabis dispensary) — to the incredible launch and scale of Paramount+, this ride has been nothing short of extraordinary.
When we introduced Pluto TV, we were criticized for betting on a free, linear, ad-supported streaming model, when the world was focused only on paid, on-demand, ad-free services. Launching on April Fool’s Day admittedly didn’t help. But we embraced an underdog spirit, remained steadfast and proved the skeptics wrong when the service was acquired by Viacom just five years later and became sustainably profitable the year following.
Together, we helped pioneer FAST before it had a name. We transformed Pluto TV into a billion-dollar business with over 80 million users. We came together to launch Paramount+ into a crowded market and, against all odds, made it the fastest-growing SVOD in the U.S and one of the top four SVOD platforms worldwide. We scaled to 78 million subscribers, hit profitability milestones ahead of schedule and faster than our peers, and just drove Paramount Streaming to a $2.2 billion quarter. This is remarkable growth compared to $1.8 billion for the entire yearwhen we launched the division less than 5 years ago. Even more impressively, our division also generated $157 million in quarterly profit and achieved global profitability for the first half of 2025. But more than the numbers, we built something that mattered—with heart, hustle, and a whole lot of grit.
What I’ll miss most, though, is you — the people, the team, and the culture we created. Through every challenge, especially the more recent ones, you showed up with courage, creativity, and an unshakable sense of purpose. You’ve inspired me every single day and I’m a better leader for it.
It has been the honor and privilege of my career to lead and work alongside this exceptional team. Thank you for the laughs, the late nights, the karaoke sessions, the bold ideas, and the unwavering belief in what we could do together. While I’ll be stepping away from my day-to-day role following the close of the deal, I’ll be staying on in an advisory capacity to Cindy Holland and the Streaming leadership team to help ensure a smooth and successful transition. I have no doubt that you’ll continue to achieve spectacular things, and I’ll be cheering you on every step of the way.
Tom
