Paramount completes Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition to form Skydance

Paramount completed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on October 6, 2026, bringing the two Hollywood studios and a portfolio of television and streaming businesses into a combined company called Skydance, according to The Guardian, TechCrunch and Variety.

The Guardian reported that the transaction was valued at $111 billion. David Ellison and former Mattel chief executive Ynon Kreiz will lead the combined business, whose holdings include the Paramount and Warner Bros. film studios, HBO Max, CBS News and CNN.

The closing follows a legal challenge by California, New York and 10 other US states over competition concerns. Under a settlement announced in September, the company must release at least 30 films and more than 180 television shows each year, The Guardian reported. CBS News and CNN must maintain independent editorial boards, with a trustee monitoring compliance.

Those conditions make the company’s production commitments and the governance of its news outlets key issues as the businesses come together. The settlement does not remove the broader concerns about media consolidation raised by the states.

Variety reported on October 6 that Ellison and Kreiz had told employees in a memo that layoffs were coming. The source material available for this article does not establish how many positions would be affected or when the reductions would take place.

The completion of the acquisition marks a new stage after the regulatory and legal proceedings: management must now integrate the businesses while meeting the settlement’s obligations.