Paramount and Warner Bros. Merge Into $111 Billion Skydance

Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery are now a single company: Skydance Corp., valued at $111 billion and led by chairman and CEO David Ellison. Skydance Class B shares begin trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "SKYD," while WBD shares have ceased trading on Nasdaq.

"Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry," Ellison said in a statement.

The merger unites two major studios, TV networks including CBS, CNN, Comedy Central, MTV and TBS, and the streaming services Paramount+ and HBO Max. The company says the new Skydance will generate annual revenue of nearly $70 billion — and carry $80 billion in net debt.

What did Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders receive?

Under the terms of the merger, WBD shareholders received cash equal to $31.01666668 per share. The Ellison family, with backing from Larry Ellison, David's tech-mogul father, holds the largest equity stake in Skydance. The Ellisons and investment firm RedBird Capital Partners together are the sole holders of Paramount Class A common stock, including 100% of the combined company's voting shares.

The closing comes a little more than a year after Ellison's Paramount Skydance — created in 2025 after Skydance Media bought Paramount Global — first launched its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. The path included a rival Netflix deal for WB assets and an antitrust lawsuit filed by 12 Democratic attorneys general. Ellison prevailed on both counts.

Who funded the deal — and who runs the company?

The merger was funded with $47 billion of investment in Class B common stock, led by Larry Ellison, RedBird Capital Partners, LionTree, and the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. That equity was priced at $12 per share. Debt financing was led by Bank of America, Citigroup and Apollo Global Management.

Ellison has hired Ynon Kreiz, former CEO of Mattel, as co-CEO. On Monday, Ellison announced the senior leadership team for the new company.

"From the start, our ambition was to bring these two storied studios together and create a stronger competitor, with the talent, resources, and reach to tell great stories in every genre, on every platform, for audiences everywhere," Ellison said. "Now that ambition is a reality…. Our focus now turns to the future: building a company that empowers creatives, entertains audiences and rewards shareholders."

What changes for viewers and employees?

Skydance said Paramount+ and HBO Max will be merged "into a single service over time." The company claims "consumers can expect greater innovation from a company built with technology at its core."

Skydance targets more than $6 billion in "run-rate synergies" over the next three years, applying "the same operational playbook that allowed Paramount to exceed its synergy targets following the Skydance-Paramount merger." Cost savings will come "primarily" from technology, integration and procurement, marketing and real estate rationalization — which the company says "will make the company leaner and more nimble, freeing it to grow its investment in the stories, creators and technology that matter most."

The savings will also come from mass layoffs: thousands of employees at the former Paramount and WBD are expected to be pink-slipped over the next several months.

On the balance sheet, Skydance aims to cut its ratio of net debt to adjusted EBITDA from an estimated 6-7x in 2026 to a target of 3.0x by the end of 2029.

The company operates three business segments — Studios, Direct-to-Consumer and TV Media — with a brand portfolio that includes:

• Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros.
• HBO, HBO Max and Paramount+
• CBS, CNN, CBS Sports and TNT Sports
• Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, MTV and Comedy Central
• Pluto TV, BET, Food Network and HGTV

With SKYD now trading and a three-year clock running on $6 billion in synergies, the test ahead is whether Ellison can deliver growth while cutting debt and payrolls at scale.