Paramount completes $110 billion Warner Bros Discovery takeover

Paramount Skydance completed its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery on October 6, bringing film studios, streaming services and news networks into a combined company named Skydance under CEO David Ellison.

The transaction unites the studios responsible for Mission: Impossible and Harry Potter, along with DC Studios. Its television and streaming businesses include CNN, CBS, HBO Max and Paramount+. The combined company's shares switched from Nasdaq to the New York Stock Exchange on October 6, using the ticker SKYD.

Agreements settling disputes with a group of U.S. states and a Hollywood writers union cleared the principal legal obstacles to completion. The merger comes amid shrinking cable-TV subscriptions, costly competition for streaming viewers and union concerns about employment and creative workers' rights.

Ellison appointed former Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz as co-CEO, responsible for daily operations and integrating the businesses. Ellison will oversee strategy and creative direction. He said the Skydance name was intended to preserve the separate identities of the Paramount and Warner Bros studios.

Management faces a planned $6 billion in cost savings. Paramount said much of that would come from areas other than labor, including consolidating streaming technology and cloud providers, although the cuts are expected to affect jobs across Hollywood.

The combined business is expected to have about $80 billion in debt. CNN chief Mark Thompson and CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss would remain in their respective leadership positions at Skydance.