Catenaa, Tuesday, October 06, 2026- Paramount closed its $110 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery on Tuesday, rebranding the new Hollywood giant as Skydance.
According to Associated Press(AP), the merger brings two of America’s oldest and most famous moviemaking studios together under a new name: Skydance, ending a yearlong battle which kept both Hollywood and Wall Street on edge.
The combined entity moved its primary stock listing to the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “SKYD,” with shares falling over 4% in the afternoon trading on Tuesday.
The deal creates one of the largest entertainment entities in the world and makes David Ellison, its owner, one of the most powerful people in culture and business.
“Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry,” Ellison said in a statement Tuesday, according to AP. “We couldn’t be more excited to get to work.”
Skydance, owned by Ellison, bought out Paramount for $8 billion last year before setting its sights on Warner.
According to Investing.com, under the final transaction terms, Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders received $31.0167 per share in cash, alongside an additional $41.9 million ticking fee to account for the duration between late September and closing.
The transaction combines Paramount’s film and television operations with WBD’s streaming, broadcast and news businesses, including CBS News and CNN, according to Investing.com.
Axios said that the merged company will control Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures and Skydance’s film operations, along with the Paramount+ and HBO Max streaming platforms. Its news portfolio will include CNN and CBS.”
According to Axios report, the merger will also place the companies’ cable networks under the same corporate structure. Paramount’s portfolio includes MTV, VH1 and Comedy Central, while WBD operates networks such as TBS, TNT, Food Network and Discovery.
The combination of those assets on the back end won’t all be felt by consumers, but product changes are coming. The combined company, for example, plans to merge HBO Max and Paramount + into one giant unified streamer, Axios reported.
Bloomberg said that to complete the acquisition transaction, Paramount raised $52 billion in new debt, where some borrowings carry a yield of nearly 9%.
According to Fitch Ratings, in addition to the debt it raised, Skydance will carry WBD’s existing liabilities, totaling $87.5 billion in debt.
