Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery complete $110 billion media megamerger

Paramount has completed its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, forming a combined company known as Skydance. The merger officially puts Paramount and WBD’s film studios, along with major networks and brands like HBO, CBS News, and CNN, under one roof. The road to the media megamerger has been a rocky one for Paramount, which secured an agreement in February after waging a months-long battle against Netflix for WBD. Since then, it has faced criticism from both lawmakers and Hollywood talent about the negative impact of media consolidation. Paramount cleared its last major hurdle last month, as it settled with 12 states that sued to block the deal over antitrust concerns. Under the settlement, Skydance must release a minimum number of theatrical films over the next five years, starting with 30 in years one and two. It must also spend at least $300 million more on production in the US compared to what the companies spent last year combined. David Ellison will lead Skydance alongside Ynon Kreiz, the former chairman and CEO of Mattel. “Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry,” Ellison said in the announcement. “From the start, our ambition was to bring these two storied studios together and create a stronger competitor, with the talent, resources, and reach to tell great stories in every genre, on every platform, for audiences everywhere. Now that ambition is a reality.”