{"id":2234,"date":"2026-10-07T09:03:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T04:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2234"},"modified":"2026-10-07T09:03:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T04:03:46","slug":"paramount-skydance-completes-110-billion-warner-bros-takeover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2234","title":{"rendered":"Paramount Skydance completes $110 billion Warner Bros. takeover"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Paramount Skydance completed its blockbuster $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery on Tuesday, creating a Hollywood heavyweight that hands CEO David Ellison control of one of the world\u2019s largest entertainment and news businesses.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The deal brings together the studios behind \u201cMission: Impossible,\u201d \u201cHarry Potter\u201d and DC Studios alongside major television \u200band streaming networks such as CBS, CNN, Paramount+ and HBO Max \u2014 forming an expansive entertainment company spanning film, TV and news.<\/p>\n

The merger is a chance \u201cto build the next-generation media and entertainment company, powered by creativity and \u200ctechnology,\u201d Ellison said in a memo to employees on Tuesday, outlining his vision. The goal, he added, was not simply to get bigger but \u201cto take on the biggest players in our industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new company, called Skydance, is the latest iteration of a conglomerate once controlled by the late Sumner Redstone that has precipitously shrunk over the years, as audiences flock to news and entertainment delivered by a growing cadre of smaller publishers and creators who are chipping away at once-mighty Hollywood.<\/p>\n

Skydance not only faces competition from Netflix, Disney and others, but also from tech companies Apple, Meta, and Amazon, as well as the growing \u200bthreat of AI.<\/p>\n

Ellison said the merger was necessary to better take on these challengers at a time when the media industry had become complacent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey allowed Netflix to disrupt their business,\u201d he told reporters in a press conference on Tuesday. \u201cThey allowed \u200bAmazon Prime Video to come and disrupt their business. They didn\u2019t transform, and they held on to the past for too long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shares of the combined company moved to the New York Stock \u2060Exchange from Nasdaq on Tuesday to trade under the ticker \u201cSKYD.\u201d<\/p>\n

Settlements<\/a> with a coalition of US states<\/a> and a Hollywood writers union removed the main legal barriers to the merger, one of the largest in media history. It comes as Hollywood faces declining cable-TV subscriptions, the \u200bhigh cost of competing for streaming audiences and persistent pressure from unions over jobs and creative workers\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Trump\u2019s CNN problem<\/strong><\/h3>\n

President Donald Trump<\/a> expressed approval on Tuesday when asked about the deal. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a great company,\u201d he told reporters<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s a great merger. I\u2019m glad they let \u200bit go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump has attacked news organisations since his first term, and he recently took the unprecedented step of banning several news outlets<\/a> from the White House, including CNN. The move came weeks ahead of the November 3 midterm elections in which Trump\u2019s fellow Republicans are defending narrow majorities in Congress.<\/p>\n

CNN chief Mark Thompson and CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss will continue<\/a> in their respective leadership roles in the new company, and each will separately report to Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz, allaying concerns from critics<\/a> that Weiss, who took over as CBS News editor-in-chief in 2025, would have greater control over all of Skydance\u2019s news \u200boperations.<\/p>\n

The concerns are also fueled by lawmakers\u2019 criticism of Ellison<\/a> for tailoring news coverage at Paramount-owned CBS News to favour Trump. As part of the settlement, Ellison agreed to create an editorial independence board to oversee CNN and CBS. Experts warn that the board will \u200bbe \u201ctoothless<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ellison said last week<\/a> the Skydance name was chosen to retain the individual identities of Paramount and Warner Bros. studios, rather than combining them under a new brand.<\/p>\n

Wall Street analysts, however, said the name reinforces the extent of Ellison\u2019s control, highlighting how some of Hollywood\u2019s most iconic brands now \u200canswer to him \u2060and how he has a platform to impose his strategy and culture.<\/p>\n

In just 16 years, Skydance has gone from an independent studio to the centre of one of Hollywood\u2019s biggest power plays. Founded in 2010 by the son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, it built its reputation as a financial backer and producer of Paramount\u2019s blockbuster \u201cTop Gun: Maverick.\u201d<\/p>\n

After merging with<\/a> Paramount last year, Skydance set its sights on Warner Bros., entering a heated bidding contest with Netflix while drawing interest from other potential suitors, including Comcast.<\/p>\n

Warner Bros shareholders received an additional $41.9 million in a \u201cticking fee,\u201d based on the number of days between September-end and the deal-closing, according to a regulatory filing.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Broader Hollywood Bet<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Ellison named Kreiz as Skydance co-CEO to run day-to-day operations and lead the integration, while Ellison oversees creative direction and overall strategy.<\/p>\n

Kreiz, former CEO of \u200bMattel, <\/a>was also appointed to the company\u2019s board on Tuesday, alongside \u200bformer Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, and Laurene Powell \u2060Jobs, the founder of the Emerson Collective, and publisher of the Atlantic. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair will join the company as an adviser, it said.<\/p>\n

In bringing on Kreiz, Ellison has signalled the need for a cost-cutter<\/a>. The duo faces the task of combining two large companies while delivering $6 billion in planned savings, a big part of which Paramount said would come from \u201cnon-labour sources.\u201d<\/p>\n

That includes combining technology \u200band cloud providers of the two companies, but the scale of the cuts is expected to affect jobs across Hollywood.<\/p>\n

Skydance plans to combine its streaming services, including HBO Max and Paramount+, \u200binto a single service and has pledged to \u2060release at least 30 films<\/a> each in the first two years after closing, rising to 32 a year for the following three.<\/p>\n

The combined company is also expected to carry about $80 billion in debt, putting pressure on Ellison to grow streaming, preserve cash flow from cable networks and improve theatrical film performance. Ellison has pledged to spend $30 billion or more each year on content.<\/p>\n

Analysts at MoffettNathanson forecast core operating profit, or EBITDA, of $16 billion for 2028, rising to $19 billion in 2030. The research firm also predicted about $67 billion in revenue in 2028, growing to roughly $70 billion \u2060in 2030.<\/p>\n

Ellison\u2019s annual \u200bbase salary will be $5 million, with a target annual bonus of $5 million, according to the regulatory filing.<\/p>\n

The tech scion offered a cold assessment of the deal \u200bwhen Reuters asked how he planned to win over a sceptical Hollywood where many had expressed deep apprehensions over the transaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand why everyone felt the way that they did,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I think if you\u2019re intellectually honest, you need to zoom out and to see that the symptoms of this go back a long \u200btime, and then you start asking yourself, \u2018What was the alternative?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paramount Skydance completed its blockbuster $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery on Tuesday, creating a Hollywood heavyweight that hands CEO David Ellison control of one of the world\u2019s largest entertainment and news businesses. The deal brings together the studios behind \u201cMission: Impossible,\u201d \u201cHarry Potter\u201d and DC Studios alongside major television \u200band streaming networks such as CBS, CNN, Paramount+ and HBO Max \u2014 forming an expansive entertainment company spanning film, TV and news. The merger is a chance \u201cto build the next-generation media and entertainment company, powered by creativity and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2234\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}