Paramount Skydance closed its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on Tuesday, and the combined company now goes by one name, Skydance. It ends a yearlong fight that ran through a bidding war with Netflix and an antitrust lawsuit from 12 state attorneys general.
David Ellison now controls one of the biggest entertainment companies on the planet. He’ll run it with co-CEO Ynon Kreiz, the former Mattel chief, who oversees day-to-day operations and the integration of the two businesses.
Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures, HBO and CBS, CNN and CBS News. Add Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, the DC Universe, Top Gun and Yellowstone.
If you pay for streaming, HBO Max and Paramount+ are the part to watch. The company has said it plans to combine them into one service eventually. HBO chief Casey Bloys has suggested they may stay separate.
Jobs are the bigger worry inside Hollywood. Ellison has projected more than $6 billion in cost savings, and Warner Bros. staffers have been bracing for cuts since February. Ellison says most of those savings won’t come from layoffs. Paramount cut about 2,000 U.S. jobs after Skydance bought it last year, so the industry is watching closely.
The deal also carries serious debt. Paramount raised $52 billion in new debt to close it, according to Bloomberg.
