Paramount closes $110 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery

Paramount Skydance on Tuesday completed its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, uniting the movie studios behind “The Godfather” and the “Harry Potter” films into a media colossus rebranded as Skydance.

The merger also brings together the news outlets CBS News and CNN, major cable networks such as Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, TBS and TNT and the streaming services Paramount+ and HBO Max.

David Ellison, who orchestrated the merger as CEO of Paramount Skydance, will lead the new company along with co-CEO Ynon Kreiz, who was previously CEO of toy company Mattel.

In an email to employees, Ellison and Kreiz said the merger will allow the company to create a “stronger competitor, one with the scale to take on the biggest players in our industry.”

“Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry,” Ellison said in a separate statement from Skydance.

As part of the deal, Warner Bros. shareholders will receive the cash equivalent of roughly $31 per share, the company said.

The deal came together after Paramount settled a July lawsuit from a coalition of 12 state attorneys general and a separate lawsuit from the Writers Guild of America (WGA). Both had sued to block it on antitrust grounds. 

Under the settlement agreement, Paramount pledged to produce 30 films in each of the first two years after the merger and is barred from selling or closing the Paramount or Warner Bros. studio lots in Los Angeles for at least five years.

Paramount has also agreed to establish an editorial board to “help CNN and CBS maintain editorial independence,” according to California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office. WGA agreed to settle its lawsuit after Paramount reached a deal with the states.

Ellison said the company is targeting $6 billion in cost savings, a move that some in the media industry are concerned could lead to job losses.

“Integrating two companies will bring change, including difficult decisions that affect our workforce,” Ellison and Kreiz said in the email to Skydance employees.