Paramount has officially closed its $81 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, completing one of the largest media mergers in history and renaming the combined company Skydance Corporation. The deal closed on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, after clearing regulators in nearly 70 countries and settling antitrust lawsuits brought by a coalition of U.S. states and the Writers Guild of America.
The $81 billion figure covers the equity side of the transaction; including assumed debt, outlets put the deal's total value at roughly $110–111 billion. Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders received just over $31 per share in cash, and WBD stock stopped trading on the Nasdaq while the new Skydance began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "SKYD" (replacing "PSKY").
The Skydance Name — and a New Look for the Water Tower
CEO David Ellison announced the Skydance name on October 2 in an X post, saying the name was chosen to preserve the distinct identities of Paramount and Warner Bros. rather than diminish either one. In the post, he described the combined company as "a creative-first home for bold, quality storytelling."
The rebrand moved fast. Workers spent Tuesday adding the words "A Skydance Corporation" to the 133-foot Warner Bros. water tower on the Burbank lot, a landmark built in 1927 that has appeared in countless productions, including the 1990s series "Animaniacs." Paramount's own water tower in Hollywood received the same treatment last year after Ellison's 2025 acquisition of Paramount Global.
Who Is Running Skydance
David Ellison remains chairman and CEO, responsible for long-term strategy, creative direction and capital allocation. Joining him as co-CEO is Ynon Kreiz, the former Mattel chairman and CEO credited with the "Barbie" turnaround, who will run day-to-day operations and lead the integration.
The board added Kreiz, Laurene Powell Jobs (Emerson Collective founder and publisher of The Atlantic) and Bobby Kotick (Activision founder and former CEO), the latter two as independent directors. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair joined as an advisor.
Ellison and Kreiz addressed employees at a globally livestreamed town hall on Tuesday, with a Q&A moderated by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper. Ellison called it "a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry," and said in a memo the goal was "to build the next-generation media and entertainment company, powered by creativity and technology." At a first press conference, he said Skydance would spend more on content than Disney or Netflix.
What the Combined Company Now Controls
Skydance now owns Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, the streaming services Paramount+ and HBO Max (which will stay separate rather than merge into one), broadcast and cable networks including CBS, CNN, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, MTV, TBS and TNT, and the full Warner Bros. Games portfolio. Reports put combined annual revenue near $70 billion, streaming subscribers above 200 million, and the net debt load over $80 billion.
The franchise library is arguably the most valuable in entertainment: Harry Potter, DC's Batman and Superman, Game of Thrones, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, Top Gun, The Godfather, White Lotus and SpongeBob now sit under one corporate roof. HBO Max and Paramount+ will continue operating as separate services rather than merging into one, and Skydance has committed to releasing at least 30 theatrical films a year with minimum 45-day theatrical windows.
Synergies, Savings — and Layoffs
The company has committed to $6 billion in cost savings within three years, with much of it expected from non-labor sources such as combined technology and cloud providers. Still, layoffs are expected: a Day One memo from Ellison and Kreiz, obtained by Variety, warned that "integrating two companies will bring change, including difficult decisions that affect our workforce."
The deal cleared its final legal hurdles only after major concessions: an extra $1.5 billion in domestic production over five years, an editorial independence board to safeguard CNN, and a $47.5 million workforce fund for displaced employees.
Watch: Paramount And Warner Bros. Are Now ONE Company — Skydance Explained — a video breakdown of the full merger timeline, what Skydance now owns, the 30-film theatrical commitment and the future of streaming and DC Studios.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Long Road Ahead B (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0
The merger caps a takeover battle that stretched through much of 2026, with Paramount beating out rival bidder Netflix after months of competing offers. For the industry, the question now is whether Ellison can integrate two legacy giants — two studios, two streamers, two news networks — without breaking the creative engines that made them valuable in the first place.
Sources: New York Post · The Straits Times · Memorable TV · Bleeding Cool