Paramount Completes $110 Billion Warner Bros. Acquisition as Hollywood’s New Skydance Era Begins
Well, like it or not, it’s happening. Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery are officially under the same roof.
Skydance Corporation has completed its massive $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, bringing two of Hollywood’s biggest entertainment empires together under a new combined company simply called Skydance.
The deal, which closed after receiving the required regulatory approvals and satisfying the remaining conditions of the merger agreement, creates one of the largest media and entertainment companies on the planet.
Skydance now controls two major movie studios, Paramount and Warner Bros., along with CBS, HBO, CNN, CBS News, Paramount and WBD’s cable networks, two global streaming services, CBS Sports and TNT Sports.
Then there’s the ridiculous collection of franchises and properties now living inside the same corporate house, including Star Trek, DC Comics, Harry Potter, Transformers, Game of Thrones, Mission: Impossible, The Lord of the Rings and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Skydance also holds distribution rights connected to Dune, Minecraft and the MonsterVerse. That list barely covers what this company now has at its disposal.
David Ellison, Chairman and CEO of Skydance, marked the completion of the deal by saying: “Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry. From the start, our ambition was to bring these two storied studios together and create a stronger competitor, with the talent, resources, and reach to tell great stories in every genre, on every platform, for audiences everywhere. Now that ambition is a reality.”
He continued: “We're grateful to everyone who made this possible – the employees, creative talent, and production teams of both companies, who worked tirelessly to get us here and inspire audiences around the world every day, as well as the advisors and partners who guided this transaction to completion.”
Ellison added: “Our focus now turns to the future: building a company that empowers creatives, entertains audiences and rewards shareholders. We couldn't be more excited to get to work.”
Gerry Cardinale, founder and managing partner of RedBird Capital and a Skydance board director, sees the merger as something that can reshape how the company competes in an entertainment business that has changed dramatically over the past decade.
“This is a defining moment for the industry. By applying our owner-operator model to Paramount and WBD's unmatched portfolio of iconic franchises, premium original programming, and live sports rights, we can protect that legacy while building for a media landscape that's undergoing transformational change.”
He concluded: “David, our Co-CEO Ynon Kreiz, and the rest of our world-class Skydance team have the vision and track record to lead through this change. We're proud to back them as we build a stronger Hollywood, expand opportunities for talent, and create long-term value for our shareholders.”
Ellison and Skydance Co-CEO Ynon Kreiz also sent a lengthy memo to employees following the closing of the Paramount-Warner Bros. deal, acknowledging that getting this thing across the finish line wasn’t exactly easy.
“Getting here has been quite a journey,” they wrote. “Over the past year and beyond, it has taken hard work, perseverance and commitment with many challenges along the way – but we did it!”
The company’s plan is ambitious. Skydance wants to release at least 30 movies a year while continuing to invest in original films and major franchises including Harry Potter, Mission: Impossible, The Lord of the Rings, DC, Transformers and Star Trek.
Television and streaming will lean on properties including Game of Thrones, Landman, NCIS, Tracker and SpongeBob SquarePants, while gaming gives the company access to heavy hitters such as Hogwarts Legacy and Mortal Kombat. Its sports portfolio includes the NFL on CBS, UFC, UEFA and March Madness.
Skydance also wants to become what Ellison and Kreiz call “the most technologically capable media company,” with plans to use data, new production technology and AI throughout its businesses.
The executives made an important distinction about how they want that technology used: “technology must serve the art – never the other way around.”
Of course, a $110 billion Hollywood mega-deal also comes with some ugly realities. The combined company carries roughly $80 billion in debt and Skydance is targeting at least $6 billion in synergies. That means cost cutting is coming, with layoffs expected as Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery are integrated.
Ellison and Kreiz directly addressed the situation with employees: “Integrating two companies will bring change, including difficult decisions that affect our workforce. We are committed to handling this process thoughtfully and respectfully.”
The combined business is expected to generate nearly $70 billion in revenue, and management argues that the savings will create room to invest more heavily in creators, technology and future productions.
One major question surrounding the merger has been what happens to the identities of Paramount and Warner Bros. The answer, at least publicly, is that both studios are staying put.
Moviegoers will continue to see the Paramount mountain and Warner Bros. shield, and the studios will continue operating under their familiar names. The Skydance name will sit above the entire operation as the corporate identity.
Ellison and Kreiz explained that combinations such as WarnerParamount, ParaWarner and ParamountWarner were considered and rejected because none of them felt right.
“Every variation somehow made two giants feel smaller, not greater. It asked each to give something up rather than allowing us to create something new. This isn’t a merger of convenience. It’s the beginning of a new era in entertainment, and we wanted a name that looks forward rather than one that simply splices together the past.”
They eventually landed on Skydance, the name Ellison originally chose for his studio two decades ago.
“It evokes possibility: scale and ambition, creativity and imagination, artistry and innovation. Most importantly, it doesn’t compete with either legacy. It gives the new company an identity of its own while allowing Paramount and Warner Bros. – and all our extraordinary brands – to remain in the spotlight.”
For DC fans, there’s also some stability amid all this corporate reshuffling. James Gunn and Peter Safran will remain in charge of DC Studios. Their current contract situation hasn’t been clarified, although previous reports have indicated their existing deals run through April 2027.
That means, for now, Gunn and Safran can continue building out their DC plans while the much larger company surrounding them goes through a major transition.
The scale of this merger is pretty wild when you look at everything Skydance now controls. The new Skydance is positioning itself as another heavyweight capable of competing directly with Netflix, Disney and Amazon. Whether putting this many studios, networks, franchises and services together actually produces a stronger entertainment company is the big question.
Here’s the full memo:
Team,
Today we begin an exciting new chapter as Skydance.
Getting here has been quite a journey. Over the past year and beyond, it has taken hard work, perseverance and commitment with many challenges along the way – but we did it! To everyone at both companies who helped get us to this moment: thank you. Thank you for your patience, your resilience and, above all, your belief in what we could accomplish together.
Bringing Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery together fulfills a vision that began with Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount: to build the next-generation media and entertainment company, powered by creativity and technology. The goal was never simply to add more production capacity, brands or IP. It was to unite the talent, resources and capabilities of these companies into a stronger competitor, one with the scale to take on the biggest players in our industry. Together, we will give these iconic studios the opportunity to win for generations to come.
BUILT FOR WHAT’S AHEAD
As all of you know, our industry is in a period of profound change. Audiences have more choices than ever, technology is reshaping how stories are created, distributed and experienced, and competition for people’s time and attention has never been greater. We don’t just want to succeed in this environment – we want to win and help shape the future of the industry.
We want to lead.
And that starts with what we’re building together: a company that tells great stories in every genre, for audiences everywhere, on every platform. A company that can compete in a crowded market and win at global scale, create enduring value for all stakeholders, and strengthen the industry as a whole.
As owner-operators, we’re in this for the long term, committed to building Skydance for the future – not simply optimizing for the next quarter or the next year, but creating a company built to endure, evolve and remain relevant. That means being creative-first, audience-focused, tech-forward and globally scaled – building a thriving ecosystem where stories and worlds are imagined, brought to life and experienced by audiences of all ages, everywhere.
At the center of it all is a clear purpose: to entertain, inspire and inform the world through extraordinary storytelling. And we’ll be guided every step of the way by shared priorities that shape how we intend to operate, how we make decisions, how we work together and how we show up for our audiences, our partners and one another.
OUR TOP PRIORITIES
To bring that mission to life, these are the priority areas where we will concentrate our energy:
WIN IN STORYTELLING
Great stories remain at the heart of everything we do. We will invest in the ideas, creators, franchises and experiences that captivate audiences around the world and create lasting cultural impact. On the big screen, we are committed to making at least 30 movies a year, pairing original stories from today’s most exciting filmmakers with beloved franchises like Harry Potter, Mission: Impossible, The Lord of the Rings, DC, Transformers and Star Trek. On television and streaming, it means storytelling like Game of Thrones, Landman, NCIS, Tracker and SpongeBob SquarePants. In games, it means worlds like Hogwarts Legacy and Mortal Kombat; and in live sports, it means the NFL on CBS, the UFC, UEFA and March Madness, just to name a few.
BECOME THE MOST TECHNOLOGICALLY CAPABLE MEDIA COMPANY
Technology is fundamentally reshaping our industry, and we intend to be at the forefront. We will use technology, data and emerging capabilities to improve how we create, distribute and monetize content, from new production tools to personalization and entirely new ways for fans to engage with the stories they love. We will embrace the opportunities AI provides to expand what our creatives can imagine and to make our businesses even more productive. The opportunities ahead are enormous, and we intend to seize them. But one principle will never change: technology must serve the art – never the other way around.
LEAD IN A CROWDED MARKET
We came together to create another major competitor in the industry. And with our combined scale, assets and global reach, we are positioned to take on some of the largest technology and media companies in the world and to lead in an evolving entertainment landscape. We will use that strength to drive synergies, operate with discipline and invest in the long-term growth of our business. And we will go further than traditional synergies. By embracing the most advanced technologies available and embedding them into how we operate, we will work smarter, move faster and unlock efficiencies the merger alone could not deliver.
EARN TRUST EVERY DAY
Trust is foundational to everything we do. And we are committed to earning it every day by communicating directly, following through on our commitments and listening closely to those we serve and work alongside. That is essential to our reputation and our long-term success.
As we work toward these goals, we must never lose sight of what matters most: our people. We will build a culture where people feel respected, empowered, supported and proud of the work they do. And we will extend that same commitment, with reliability and responsibility, to our creators, audiences, consumers, advertisers and partners.
None of what we accomplish happens in a vacuum. It reflects everyone joining forces to unlock the full potential of our assets: an unmatched portfolio of brands, franchises, libraries, IP and creative talent, with decades of history and, in many cases, decades of opportunity still ahead.
Together, we can reach audiences across platforms, markets, and generations in ways neither Paramount nor WBD could have achieved alone. With the talent, scale, relationships and resources to build on, we can create something truly distinctive.
For audiences, it means more choice and more ways to experience the stories they love. For creators, it means a partner with the scale and capabilities to help their best ideas reach the widest possible audience. For our partners, it means a broader, more powerful platform to build on. And for the broader creative community, it means an enduring commitment to storytelling and the people who make it possible.
That is the foundation of Skydance. And it’s why this combination matters so much.
HONORING AN EXTRAORDINARY LEGACY
The union of these two iconic companies represents an exciting future. But, just as important as what we build together is preserving what has made them iconic in the first place. Paramount and Warner Bros. each have a distinct identity and extraordinary legacy that deserves to stand on its own.
In choosing our corporate brand, we never wanted to diminish, alter or overshadow any of the assets that have global recognition and have withstood the test of time. Both studios will continue to operate under their own names, and audiences will still see the Paramount mountain and the Warner Bros. shield before the films and shows they love.
Warner Bros. is woven into the history of modern entertainment, from film and television to journalism, sports, unscripted programming and some of the world’s most recognizable characters and franchises. Paramount has an equally extraordinary legacy, with more than a century of storytelling that helped define the American film industry and shape entertainment across every medium.
We realized early on that simply combining the two names – WarnerParamount, ParaWarner or ParamountWarner – accomplished none of what we wanted. Every variation somehow made two giants feel smaller, not greater. It asked each to give something up rather than allowing us to create something new. This isn’t a merger of convenience. It’s the beginning of a new era in entertainment, and we wanted a name that looks forward rather than one that simply splices together the past.
That brought us to Skydance – a name that obviously has special meaning to David, who chose it for his own studio 20 years ago. It evokes possibility: scale and ambition, creativity and imagination, artistry and innovation. Most importantly, it doesn’t compete with either legacy. It gives the new company an identity of its own while allowing Paramount and Warner Bros. – and all our extraordinary brands – to remain in the spotlight.
Because ultimately, what we are bringing together is much more than brands and libraries. It is the creative spirit, ambition and craftsmanship that have kept these companies culturally relevant for generations. That spirit will continue to be a core part of who we are at Skydance.
And who we are will also be defined by what we strive to accomplish – not just for our company, but for the industry at large. That means looking ahead to the forces that are reshaping entertainment and finding ways to harness them to expand what’s possible – for creators, for audiences and for the business itself.
FINANCIAL STRENGTH
We’re building a diversified company with the financial strength to compete aggressively and the discipline to create sustainable value. That’s not just important to our investors – it’s important to all of us. A financially strong, well-run company gives us the freedom to take creative risks, invest in our people and our technology, and pursue the kind of opportunities that set us apart.
In concrete terms, we are together one of the largest media and entertainment companies in the world, with nearly $70 billion in revenue. As we have said publicly, we are also targeting at least $6 billion in synergies, which will make us leaner and more nimble and free up capital to invest in the stories, creators and technology that matter most.
Integrating two companies will bring change, including difficult decisions that affect our workforce. We are committed to handling this process thoughtfully and respectfully.
THE ROAD AHEAD
Today is Day One.
We have an incredible collection of assets. Extraordinary creative talent. Global scale. The technology to lead. And most important, we have the people who bring it all to life every day.
We have everything we need to win, and that is our goal: to build a next-generation global media and entertainment company that puts audiences first, empowers creators, embraces innovation and creates lasting value for generations to come.
But none of this happens without you. Thank you for everything you’ve brought to this moment. We’re proud to write this next chapter with you.
Now the real work begins.
Let’s go!
David and Ynon