Overview
- The merger closed on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, when Paramount Skydance completed its roughly $110–111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery and began trading Class B shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SKYD.
- David Ellison will serve as chairman and CEO with Ynon Kreiz as co‑CEO and an announced senior team that keeps key news and content leaders including Mark Thompson, Bari Weiss and Casey Bloys in place.
- The combined company brings Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., HBO Max, Paramount+, CBS, CNN and dozens of cable channels into a single corporate parent that projects nearly $70 billion in revenue while holding about $80 billion in net debt.
- Legal obstacles were removed by settlements with a coalition of 12 state attorneys general and the Writers Guild that require at least 30 U.S. theatrical releases per year, five‑year protections for the Los Angeles studio lots and an editorial‑independence board for CNN and CBS.
- Skydance says it is targeting roughly $6 billion in run‑rate synergies funded by about $47 billion of new equity led by Larry Ellison, RedBird and sovereign investors, a structure that analysts say raises strong pressure to cut costs and may lead to workforce reductions.