Paramount completes $110 billion Warner Bros. Discovery merger, forming Skydance

Paramount Skydance on Tuesday completed its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, creating a combined media company called Skydance that includes DC Studios, HBO, CBS and CNN.

The deal, one of the largest in media history, gives Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Ellison control of two Hollywood studios, the Paramount+ and HBO Max streaming services, and the CBS News and CNN newsrooms. The company also holds franchises such as “Harry Potter,” “Game of Thrones” and “SpongeBob SquarePants,” along with the DC Universe and networks including CBS, MTV, Comedy Central, TNT and HBO. It closed after a bidding war with Netflix and legal challenges from 12 state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America.

Skydance’s David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz told employees in a memo that the merged Paramount-Warner Bros. will undergo changes including layoffs, which they pledged to handle thoughtfully and respectfully.

“Integrating two companies will bring change, including difficult decisions that affect our workforce,” the memo read. “We are committed to handling this process thoughtfully and respectfully.”

Paramount executives are aiming for more than $6 billion in annual cost savings over three years, partly through layoffs, which a Los Angeles County report estimates could eliminate about 4,500 film and TV jobs in L.A. over that period.

Ellison will lead the company alongside Co-Chief Executive Officer Ynon Kreiz, the former chief executive of Mattel, CBS News reported. Paramount and Warner Bros. will continue to operate under their own names, The Hollywood Reporter reported, and the combined company will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange this week under the ticker SKYD. Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders will receive roughly $31 per share in cash.

“Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry,” Ellison said in a statement. Skydance board member Gerry Cardinale, whose firm RedBird Capital helped finance the deal, called the close “a defining moment for the industry.”

Paramount received clearance from regulators in 68 jurisdictions, including the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Communications Commission, the European Commission and the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority.

A federal judge also approved a settlement with the attorneys general, who sued in July to block the deal on antitrust grounds. Under its terms, the company must release 30 films a year in theaters, invest $1.5 billion in domestic film and television production over five years and keep both studio lots open for five years. It must also negotiate distribution deals for each company’s cable networks separately and create an independent editorial board to oversee CNN and CBS News.

Missing the film goal carries a $30 million penalty per film. Violations can also force the sale of the company’s 49% Miramax stake and networks including BET and Comedy Central. Paramount reached a separate agreement with the Writers Guild that includes a five-year layoff pause at CBS and a $17.5 million health fund contribution.

The close follows a year of negotiation. Skydance completed its acquisition of Paramount Global in August 2025, and Paramount then made an unsolicited offer for Warner Bros. Discovery. Netflix had agreed in December 2025 to buy the Warner Bros. film, television and streaming businesses, excluding its cable networks. Warner Bros. Discovery signed with Paramount in late February after Netflix withdrew.

Ties between the Ellison family and President Donald Trump have drawn scrutiny throughout the pursuit.

Ellison has said the company is targeting $6 billion in cost savings, a figure that has raised concern in the industry about job losses, CBS News reported. “Integrating two companies will bring change, including difficult decisions that affect our workforce,” Ellison and Kreiz said in an email to employees.

For DC fans, the leadership picture is largely settled. Skydance announced Monday that James Gunn and Peter Safran will remain co-chairmen of DC Studios and join the company’s leadership team. Mark Thompson will head CNN Worldwide. Gunn and Safran have led DC Studios since November 2022, and their current contracts expire in April 2027, according to Bleeding Cool.

Paramount has said it intends to combine Paramount+ and HBO Max into one service. Details on that plan have not been released.