Skydance offers buyouts to some employees to cut costs after Warner Bros merger

Oct 26 (Reuters) - Skydance is offering some employees a one-time voluntary buyout, according to a memo seen by ‌Reuters on Monday, as the media company looks ‌to cut costs after scooping up bigger rival Warner Bros Discovery and assuming ​its massive debt.

The company, whose shares have fallen by about a third this year, is also moving to a five-day-a-week in-office policy, the memo showed.

• "As we bring our teams together, we ‌recognize that not everyone ⁠will see their future here, and we respect that," Skydance CEO David Ellison and co-CEO Ynon ⁠Kreiz said in the memo

• The communication also said employees who qualify for the buyout program would be notified of ​the terms ​and given a window to ​decide whether to accept the ‌one-time offer

• Earlier this month, Paramount Skydance completed its $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros Discovery, with the combined entity renamed Skydance

• Skydance is expected to have about 53,000 employees, according to the companies' respective annual filings as of the end ‌of last year

• The company is ​expected to shoulder about $80 billion in ​debt, putting pressure on ​management to expand streaming, preserve cash flow from ‌cable networks and improve theatrical ​film performance

• The ​company is set to report third quarter results on November 9, where investors will be focused on its ​new strategy

• Semafor ‌and CNBC reported last week that Elon Musk has ​invested roughly $1 billion in Skydance

(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in ​Bengaluru; Editing by Diti Pujara)