Paramount Completes $110 Billion Warner Bros. Discovery Deal, Creating Skydance

Paramount Skydance has completed its roughly $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), combining two of Hollywood’s largest studios, Paramount+ and HBO Max, CBS and CNN, and a sprawling portfolio of entertainment brands under a newly named company, Skydance.

The blockbuster deal closed on October 6, 2026, following regulatory approvals and settlements that cleared the remaining legal hurdles. The combined company now faces the considerably harder task of integrating the businesses while managing around $80 billion in debt and targeting at least $6 billion in cost savings.
 

TL;DR

 

• Paramount Skydance completed its roughly $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on October 6.
• The combined company has been renamed Skydance and is trading on the NYSE under the ticker SKYD.
• Skydance combines Paramount+, HBO Max, CBS, CNN, major film studios, sports assets and major entertainment franchises.
• Management is targeting at least $6 billion in synergies within three years.

Paramount confirmed that Warner Bros. Discovery has become a wholly owned subsidiary following the completion of the transaction, with the combined company taking the Skydance name.

Source

WBD shareholders received $31.01666668 per share in cash, while WBD shares stopped trading on Nasdaq. Skydance Class B shares shifted from Nasdaq to the New York Stock Exchange and began trading under the ticker “SKYD.”

According to Business Standard, citing Reuters, the transaction brings together the studios behind franchises including Mission: Impossible, Harry Potter and DC properties, alongside television and streaming businesses such as CBS, CNN, Paramount+ and HBO Max.

The Business Times similarly reported that the new Skydance combines two of Hollywood’s five largest film studios, dozens of television networks and two major subscription streaming platforms.

“Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry,” said David Ellison, Chairman and CEO of Skydance, as quoted by The Business Times.

Skydance said the combined business will include CBS, HBO, Paramount and WBD cable networks, CBS News and CNN, CBS Sports and TNT Sports, along with a large portfolio of film, television and entertainment franchises. The company has also committed to delivering at least 30 theatrical films and more than 180 television shows and series.

Skydance Faces A $6 Billion Integration Challenge

Bringing the two entertainment giants together creates enormous scale, but it also leaves Skydance with an equally sizeable integration challenge.

David Ellison will continue serving as Chairman and CEO, while former Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz has been named Co-CEO and will oversee day-to-day operations and integration. Ellison will focus on creative direction, strategy and relationships with talent.

The company is targeting at least $6 billion in run-rate synergies within three years.

Business Standard reported that Paramount expects part of those savings to come from “non-labour sources,” including consolidating streaming technology and cloud providers. However, the scale of the planned savings has also raised concerns about potential job losses across Hollywood.

The Business Times reported that Skydance will also have to manage nearly $80 billion in debt. Ahead of closing, Paramount sold $52 billion worth of loans and bonds as part of one of the largest financing exercises in recent history.

Paramount And Warner Bros. Merger Faced Legal Opposition

The merger reached completion after overcoming lawsuits and competition concerns in the US.

The BBC reported that the deal followed months of legal disputes and concerns about competition after Paramount beat Netflix in the battle for Warner Bros. Discovery. A coalition of US states had sought to stop the transaction amid concerns it could reduce competition, raise consumer prices and hurt workers.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta led a coalition of 12 state attorneys general that eventually reached a settlement with Paramount. The agreement includes a five-year enforceable commitment covering film output, at least $1.5 billion in additional domestic film-production investment and a $47.5 million fund for workers affected by the merger.

The settlement also requires Paramount to release at least 30 films annually and contains theatrical-release commitments designed to protect cinemas and film production.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Justice closed its investigation in June after concluding that the transaction was unlikely to harm competition in streaming video, linear television or theatrical film development, production and distribution.

The deal subsequently secured clearances across major jurisdictions including the European Union and United Kingdom.

What The New Skydance Means For Streaming And Entertainment

The combination gives Skydance control of two significant streaming services, HBO Max and Paramount+, while bringing an unusually broad collection of film, television, news and sports properties under one corporate roof.

For consumers, the longer-term question will be what Skydance chooses to do with those overlapping streaming businesses and content libraries.

 

Firstpost highlighted the potential impact of the merger on how audiences consume movies, television and news, while the BBC focused on the broader implications for competition, pricing and the entertainment industry.

For now, Skydance has not announced that HBO Max and Paramount+ will be merged into one streaming service.

The company instead describes its strategy as “creative-first, audience focused, tech-forward, globally scaled,” with storytelling serving as the foundation of its growth plans.

Scale may give Skydance more firepower against streaming and entertainment rivals including Netflix, Disney, Amazon and Apple.

As Activate Strategy CEO Michael J. Wolf told Bloomberg TV, quoted by The Business Times, “The logic makes sense. Scale puts them in the right position. Now they have to deliver against scale.”

With the acquisition officially closed, delivering against that scale, while handling an enormous debt load, integrating two major businesses and keeping its cost-cutting commitments, becomes Skydance’s next act.