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Skydance Corporation has completed its acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery in a transaction that valued WBD at $110 billion in enterprise value, creating a significantly larger global media group led by David Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz.
The transaction closed on October 6, with Warner Bros Discovery becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of the company formerly known as Paramount Skydance Corporation. The company has simultaneously adopted the Skydance Corporation nameand moved its Class B shares from Nasdaq to the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SKYD.
The deal was agreed in February at $31 per Warner Bros Discovery share in cash, valuing WBD at $81 billion in equity value and $110 billion in enterprise value. Paramount estimated total cash consideration payable to WBD common shareholders at approximately $78 billion based on an October 6 closing date.
The combination brings Paramount, Warner Bros, HBO, CNN, CBS, Paramount+ and HBO Max into the same corporate group alongside franchises including Mission: Impossible, Harry Potter, Top Gun, the DC Universe and Game of Thrones. The strategic case rests on combining a larger content library with global streaming, film, television and news operations.
Ellison remains chairman and CEO of Skydance, while former Mattel chief Ynon Kreiz has joined as co-CEO and a member of the board. The leadership responsibilities have been deliberately divided: Ellison will focus on long-term strategy, creative direction, technology, talent relationships, strategic partnerships and capital allocation, while Kreiz will oversee day-to-day management and integration of the businesses.
That division matters because Skydance now faces a complex integration programme. The company expects more than $6 billion in synergies from areas including technology consolidation, procurement, real estate and broader operating efficiencies. Paramount previously said the combined company was expected to have net debt to EBITDA of 4.3 times on a fully synergised basis at closing, with a target of reaching investment-grade credit metrics within three years.
The senior leadership structure has also been mapped out. Casey Bloys will help lead Skydance’s direct-to-consumer operations, George Cheeks will co-lead Skydance TV, James Gunn and Peter Safran remain in charge of DC Studios, Mark Thompson continues to lead CNN Worldwide and Bari Weiss remains editor-in-chief of CBS News. Each forms part of the leadership structure announced ahead of completion.
The transaction now shifts attention from deal-making to execution. Skydance must combine two large organisations, consolidate overlapping technology and corporate functions, manage a heavily financed balance sheet, retain creative talent and deliver cost savings without weakening the brands that underpinned the acquisition.
The merger also creates a stronger position across streaming, film, television and news as traditional media companies contend with declining linear-TV economics and the continuing cost of competing globally in streaming. Scale gives the group a deeper content library and broader distribution reach, but it also raises the operational risk attached to integration.
Ellison’s decision to bring Kreiz into the co-CEO role effectively separates much of the strategic and creative leadership from the day-to-day integration task. That structure gives Kreiz direct responsibility for turning the combined operating base into the efficiencies and improved returns promised when the deal was announced.
Completion therefore marks the end of the transaction process rather than the end of the strategic challenge. The measure of the deal will now be how quickly Ellison and Kreiz can integrate the businesses, reduce costs, manage leverage and generate stronger returns from one of the media industry’s largest combined portfolios.