Paramount's $52 billion Warner Bros. merger debt sale is complete. Banks led by Apollo, Bank of America and Citigroup wrapped up the mammoth ~$52 billion debt offering this week to fund the roughly $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery — and the bonds hit a rough first day of trading, handing investors more than $100 million in paper losses, according to TheWrap, citing Bloomberg. The deal itself is expected to close on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, with the combined company renamed Skydance and trading on the NYSE under the ticker SKYD.
$52 billion debt sale: $30B investment-grade, $12.4B junk bonds
The financing package sold in just one week comprised roughly $30 billion in investment-grade debt, $12.4 billion in junk bonds and $9.46 billion in loans, per Bloomberg reporting summarized by TheWrap. Appetite at pricing time looked strong — Paramount Skydance drew more than $109 billion in orders for the investment-grade portion, about 3.6 times the amount sold, Livemint reported.
But when the bonds started trading on Thursday, prices slid. Finimize noted that some of Paramount's brand-new bonds fell around 4% on their first day of trading, and the stock dropped more than 9%, as rising rates, heavy leverage and trimmed bank markups spooked buyers. Surprising losses spurred angry complaints from money managers, Bloomberg found.
Skydance CFO Dennis Cinelli brushed off the selloff as "one-day choppiness in the market," telling Bloomberg the company entered the market "not for a one-day trade, but to execute a transformative transaction to create a next-generation entertainment and technology company." Citigroup's Leon Kalvaria, chairman of the institutional clients group, said the financing "turned out incredibly well in a choppy market."
$110 billion Paramount–Warner Bros. merger closes October 6
Paramount agreed to pay $31 per share in cash for Warner Bros. Discovery (adjusted to just over $31.01 by closing), valuing WBD at about $81 billion in equity and $110 billion including debt, per Marketing Newsroom, reporting Axios. Competition authorities in nearly 70 jurisdictions cleared the deal, and a US federal judge approved Paramount's settlement with 12 state attorneys general on September 30 — the final major hurdle.
That settlement carries real strings: the merged company must release at least 30 films a year in US cinemas for five years, invest an extra $300 million a year in domestic film and TV production, and its cable networks must negotiate carriage deals separately, according to iGaming.org. David Ellison said in an X video that the parent company will be called Skydance — the production company he founded two decades ago — while Paramount, Warner Bros., HBO Max, CBS, CNN and DC all keep their names. Former Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz joins Ellison as co-CEO, with Kreiz running day-to-day operations.
The merger saga saw Paramount win a bidding war after Netflix had reached its own agreement covering the Warner Bros. streaming and studio businesses, and Paramount agreed in February to the deal, Dot Esports reported. Leadership changes have already begun: HBO CEO Casey Bloys will run the combined Paramount+ and HBO Max, while Paramount Streaming head Cindy Holland is exiting.
The $80 billion debt bill — and $6 billion in cuts
The combined company is expected to carry around $80 billion in debt, TheWrap reported. Analysts estimate that could mean annual interest expense of $6 billion or more — a heavy load for a company whose operating income was a modest $1.1 billion in the first half of the year, as The Motley Fool noted. Management is targeting more than $6 billion in annual cost savings, though investors remain skeptical that the combined studio can find profitable growth in the streaming era.
Takeaway: The money is raised, the legal hurdles are cleared, and Hollywood's biggest-ever takeover closes Tuesday. But with $80 billion in debt, $6 billion-plus in yearly interest and promised job- and output-guarantees, the new Skydance starts life under enormous financial pressure — and markets have already signaled their doubts.