Paramount Completes Warner Bros. Discovery Purchase in $110 Billion Deal

Paramount Skydance completed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on October 6, bringing Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., HBO, CNN, CBS, DC Studios and dozens of other media assets under one company. The new corporation is called Skydance Corporation, and its shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SKYD.

The deal itself is better described not as “$110 billion in cash.” Under the terms of the agreement, Warner Bros. Discovery’s equity value is about $81 billion, while $110 billion is the enterprise value — the valuation of the business including debt and other obligations.

WBD shareholders receive $31 per share plus a small additional payment for several days after September 30. Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery signed the final deal agreement back on February 27, 2026.

HBO, DC, Paramount and CNN Now Belong to One Group

The scale of the merger is unusually large for Hollywood. The combined company includes Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, HBO, HBO Max, Paramount+, CBS, CNN, Discovery, TNT, TBS, Nickelodeon, MTV, Showtime, Cartoon Network and Pluto TV. Warner Bros. Games, the gaming division, is also part of the combined group.

Along with them, Skydance gained a huge catalog of intellectual property. Among the best-known franchises are DC with its Batman and Superman, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Mission: Impossible, Transformers, Star Trek, SpongeBob and Mortal Kombat.

In the original announcement of the deal, Paramount said the merger should help the company compete with Netflix, Disney, Amazon and Apple across film, television, streaming and franchise licensing.

David Ellison and Inon Kreiz Will Lead Skydance

David Ellison kept his roles as chairman of the board and CEO, while former Mattel head Inon Kreiz became co-CEO. He will be responsible primarily for operations and for integrating the two huge companies.

Skydance expects to achieve more than $6 billion in annual savings by combining technology infrastructure, corporate divisions, real estate and procurement. At the same time, Reuters reports that the combined company starts out with roughly $80 billion in debt, so cutting costs will be one of the new leadership’s main tasks.

Before closing, Paramount obtained the necessary approvals in 68 countries and jurisdictions. In the US, the deal also faced antitrust and legal challenges.

As part of its commitments, the combined company must release at least 30 theatrical films a year and invest additionally in American production. Separate measures are also in place to preserve the editorial independence of CNN and CBS News.

Now Skydance’s main test is not the purchase itself but integrating two media giants. The company simultaneously gains one of the world’s largest collections of entertainment brands and a debt load that will force management to look for savings in virtually every division.