Skydance has completed its $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, closing the Paramount Warner Bros merger on October 6 after nearly a year of negotiations, opposition and regulatory hurdles. The combined company now controls two of the largest film studios in the world.
The deal puts a long list of film, TV and streaming brands under one owner. CBS, CNN, MTV and Comedy Central now sit inside the same company, as do the HBO Max and Paramount Plus streaming services. TNT, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon are also part of the portfolio.
What the Paramount Warner Bros merger brings together
The franchise list is long. Skydance now owns DC, Harry Potter and Game of Thrones, along with Mission: Impossible, Star Trek, Looney Tunes and SpongeBob SquarePants. Lord of the Rings is also part of the combined portfolio, according to Engadget.
In a press release, Skydance said it has committed to releasing 30 theatrical films per year across Paramount and Warner Bros. That slate comes alongside more than 180 TV shows and series.
Several of those properties also have a big footprint in games. Warner Bros. Games publishes Hogwarts Legacy and the Mortal Kombat series, and its studios include NetherRealm, Avalanche Software and Rocksteady, the developer of the Batman: Arkham games. The division now sits under Skydance as well. However, Engadget’s report on the closing did not mention any plans for the games business.
Trading, revenue and debt
Skydance started trading on the New York Stock Exchange on October 6 under the ticker SKYD. At the same time, shares in WBD stopped trading on Nasdaq.
The merged company has total annual revenue of nearly $70 billion. Still, it also carries $80 billion in debt from the day the Paramount Warner Bros merger closed. That debt load is about $10 billion more than its yearly revenue.
Skydance CEO David Ellison framed the deal in broad terms. “Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry,” he said. Ellison added that he wants to bring “these two storied studios together and create a stronger competitor.”
How Skydance got here
The Warner Bros. acquisition follows Skydance’s $8 billion purchase of Paramount, which closed in the summer of 2025. After that, Skydance fought off competition from Netflix to win Warner Bros. Discovery.
Last week, Ellison announced that the combined company would take the Skydance name. He used the same name for his first production company, which he founded in 2006.
That first deal gave Ellison control of CBS, Paramount Pictures, MTV and Nickelodeon. With the Paramount Warner Bros merger now complete, HBO, CNN, DC and the Warner Bros. film studio join that group, and Paramount Plus and HBO Max now report to the same parent company.