Paramount-Warner Bros. $111 Billion Merger Officially Closes: ‘Today Is a Historic Day, Not Just for Skydance but for Our Entire Industry,’ David Ellison Says

It’s official: Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery are now a single company — joined together as Skydance Corp., led by chairman and CEO David Ellison. The deal, valued at $111 billion, brings together two major studios, TV networks including CBS, CNN, Comedy Central, MTV and TBS, and streaming services Paramount+ and HBO Max. The new Skydance will have annual revenue of nearly $70 billion, the company says — but it also will have to wrestle with $80 billion in net debt. The closing of the deal comes a little more than a year after Ellison’s Paramount Skydance (created in 2025 after his Skydance Media bought Paramount Global) first launched his bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. He encountered numerous obstacles on the way there — including a rival Netflix deal for WB assets and an antitrust lawsuit filed by 12 Democratic attorneys general — but has now prevailed in sealing the deal. Popular on Variety The Ellison family — with the multibillion-dollar backing of 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. Skydance Class B shares will begin trading today on the New York Stock Exchange under the new ticker symbol “SKYD.” Under the terms of the merger, Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders received an amount in cash equal to $31.01666668 per share. WBD shares have ceased trading on Nasdaq effective Tuesday. “Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry,” Ellison said in a statement. The CEO continued: “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. Now that ambition is a reality…. Our focus now turns to the future: building a company that empowers creatives, entertains audiences and rewards shareholders.” The merger creating Skydance 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 investment was priced at $12 per share. Debt financing for the transaction was led by Bank of America, Citigroup and Apollo Global Management. Ellison has hired Ynon Kreiz, former CEO of Mattel, to run the company as co-CEO. On Monday, Ellison announced the senior leadership team for the new Skydance. Skydance reiterated its general strategy, claiming that “consumers can expect greater innovation from a company built with technology at its core.” The company said its Paramount+ and HBO Max direct-to-consumer streaming products will be merged “into a single service over time.” More to come