Paramount completes $110B Warner Bros. takeover to form Hollywood giant Skydance
Combined group brings together Paramount, Warner Bros., HBO Max, CBS, and CNN; targets at least $6B in annual savings within 3 years
Paramount completed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on Tuesday, creating a combined entertainment company named Skydance in a transaction valued at about $110 billion, including debt.
The company said the deal closed after all required regulatory approvals were received and other customary closing conditions were satisfied.
Skydance’s Class B shares will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “SKYD” on Tuesday. Warner Bros. Discovery shares ceased trading on Nasdaq, with shareholders receiving about $31.02 per share in cash.
The merger brings together the Paramount and Warner Bros. studios, streaming services Paramount+ and HBO Max, television networks CBS and HBO, and news organizations CBS News and CNN.
Led by CEO David Ellison and Co-CEO Ynon Kreiz, the combined company said it has more than 200 million streaming subscriptions across its platforms and nearly $70 billion in revenue.
Skydance targets at least $6 billion in annual savings within three years, primarily through technology integration, procurement, marketing, and property consolidation.
Over time, It also plans to combine its streaming products into a single service.
The company committed to releasing at least 30 theatrical films annually, each with a minimum 45-day cinema window.
The transaction included $47 billion in new equity investment. The Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners together hold all of the combined company’s voting shares.
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