Paramount Skydance has completed this Tuesday the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, an operation that transforms the map of the audiovisual industry and brings together under one company two of the historic studios of Hollywood, major television networks, and some of the main streaming platforms. The resulting company will operate under the corporate name of Skydance.
The acquisition is valued at 81 billion dollars, although the amount approaches 111 billion when the assumed debt is included. The operation ends months of negotiations, legal disputes, and opposition from the industry and turns the group led by David Ellison into one of the largest global media and entertainment conglomerates.
"Today is a historic day, not only for Skydance but for our entire sector," Ellison stated after the operation was completed. The executive will serve as the top leader of the new group alongside Ynon Kreiz, who has been incorporated as co-CEO to take on, among other functions, the integration of the two companies.
Warner, Paramount, HBO, CNN, and CBS under the same group
The dimension of the operation is appreciated in the portfolio of assets that is concentrated under a single parent company. Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, HBO, CNN, CBS, MTV, and Nickelodeon, among other brands, become part of the same conglomerate, along with the platforms HBO Max and Paramount+.
The integration also brings together a huge film and television catalog. The Warner universe includes franchises such as Harry Potter and DC, while Paramount contributes titles and sagas like Top Gun, Mission Impossible, and The Godfather. The result positions Skydance against the major players currently dominating the audiovisual and streaming business.
The Paramount and Warner Bros. brands will not disappear with the operation. Skydance will be the name of the parent company, while the historic names will continue to operate as studio and business brands within the group.
David Ellison expands his media empire
The operation represents another leap for David Ellison, founder of Skydance and son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. His company had already acquired Paramount in 2025 for around 8 billion dollars and, a few months later, focused on Warner Bros. Discovery.
The struggle for Warner lasted for months and was accompanied by regulatory and judicial obstacles due to doubts about the impact of a concentration of this magnitude in the U.S. audiovisual market. The operation was able to advance after Paramount reached agreements to resolve the lawsuits raised by several states and by the writers' union.
The resulting company will now face the challenge of integrating two business structures of enormous dimensions and doing so with a high financial burden. Skydance aims to achieve around 6.000 million dollars in savings, while the debt of the new group stands at around 80.000 million.
Ellison and Kreiz will lead the new group
Ellison will retain control of the overall, creative, and technological strategy, while Kreiz will have a prominent role in daily operations and in the integration of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery. The management structure combines leaders from both companies, although a large part of the executive core will be linked to the Paramount team.
In one of the most relevant areas of Warner, James Gunn and Peter Safran will continue at the helm of DC Studios, preserving the direction of the label responsible for the film and television productions of the DC universe.
The integration will also have consequences in the streaming business. HBO Max and Paramount+ are now within the same group, although the completion of the merger does not in itself imply the immediate disappearance of either of the two platforms.