Paramount Completes $110 Billion Acquisition of Warner Bros.
Paramount Skydance completed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on Tuesday, with a transaction value of $110 billion. The merged company will be renamed Skydance, and its stock will move from NASDAQ to the NYSE under the ticker SKYD. According to Reuters, this is one of the largest mergers in media history. Variety reported the deal at $111 billion when including debt.
The company will group Paramount, Warner Bros. Studios, CBS, CNN, HBO, Paramount+, and HBO Max together. The film library includes titles like "Mission: Impossible," "Harry Potter," DC, "Game of Thrones," and "SpongeBob SquarePants." The company claims an annual revenue of nearly $70 billion, with a net debt of about $80 billion post-merger. David Ellison and former Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz will serve as co-CEOs, with Ellison overseeing creative and strategic aspects, while Kreiz will manage daily integration. The two face a savings target of $6 billion.
Warner shareholders will receive cash of about $31 per share. Regulatory filings indicate an additional $41.9 million in timing fees due to the gap between the end of September and the closing date. Ellison stated in an employee letter that the merger aims to achieve the scale necessary to compete against the industry's largest players. HBO head Casey Bloys will take on the role of Chief Content Officer. Leadership at CBS and CNN will remain unchanged according to Reuters.
The deal was finalized after competing bids from Netflix. The board had determined in February that Paramount's offer of $31 per share for the entire company was superior to Netflix's. The closing was subject to approval from 68 jurisdictions, including the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Communications Commission, the European Commission, and the UK's Competition and Markets Authority. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan denied a request for a temporary halt before closing.
Antitrust lawsuits from 12 state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America were resolved through a settlement. The settlement requires the company to release at least 30 theatrical films annually for the first two years post-closing, invest $1.5 billion in domestic film production over five years, and not sell or close the Paramount or Warner studios in Los Angeles for five years. Distribution agreements for cable will be negotiated separately.
The buyer is Paramount Skydance, controlled by Ellison, and the seller is Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders. This is a closing, not a new offer. Cash and debt flow to the studios, news, and streaming. Skydance acquires the film library and two streaming services, while Netflix loses the entire company as a target. The debt is approximately $80 billion, with integration and the $6 billion savings target resting on Kreiz's side.
Source: Public Information
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David Ellison founded Skydance in 2006, merged it into Paramount in 2025, and then acquired Warner Bros. Discovery for $110 billion in 2026. His father Larry Ellison's Oracle background provided financial credibility for the deal, but the closing relied on cash of $31 per share, approximately $111 billion including debt, and approvals from 68 jurisdictions. David Zaslav exited with about $887 million.
The $6 billion savings and $80 billion net debt are intertwined. Kreiz was parachuted in from Mattel to manage integration, while Ellison remains focused on creative and strategic aspects. The settlement conditions lock the studios in Los Angeles for five years and require at least 30 theatrical films and $1.5 billion in domestic production in the first two years. Scale was achieved, but layoffs and closures are partially blocked by the agreement.
The path is similar to Disney's 2019 acquisition of 21st Century Fox, trading a film library for streaming scale. The difference is that this deal simultaneously includes CBS and CNN, tying news and film assets into the same antitrust settlement. Netflix only bid for parts of the assets, while Paramount won the board with a full company offer. The industry is in a phase of streaming control, with film libraries and cable networks consolidated onto the same balance sheet.
Essentially, this is capital concentration. HBO Max and Paramount+ will no longer burn cash separately, and CBS and CNN's news advertising will also be grouped together. The price of nearly $70 billion in annual revenue comes with $80 billion in debt. Ellison gains concentration in distribution and news, while creditors will see if integration can yield $6 billion in savings within the settlement constraints.
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Scale was achieved, and debt came along.
A full company offer beat piecemeal sales.
The settlement allowed the merger but also locked in studio closures.