Jeff Shell, the president of Paramount, is unlikely to be directly replaced due to allegations that he leaked privileged information and possibly violated SEC rules. Despite this, Paramount did not indicate that Shell would have any connection with the company in the future. The company defended Shell's contributions and stated that its board of directors had followed "standard procedure" in having an outside law firm review Shell's conduct. This comes just before the expected closing of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger. Paramount Pictures and the TV Media division also have well-entrenched leadership, either new hires or holdovers from the pre-Skydance days. There is also a question of whether Shell was fired or not fired due to cause of cause.