Paramount Skydance closes Warner Bros Discovery merger, forming Skydance

Paramount Skydance completed its merger with Warner Bros Discovery on Tuesday 6 October, forming a company named Skydance. The deal brings together Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros Pictures, both more than 100 years old, according to NPR. Al Jazeera reported it also puts the CNN and CBS News networks under one owner.

Outlets reported different figures for the deal. The BBC and Al Jazeera reported a $110bn merger, while NPR put it at $111 billion. DW reported the takeover cost around $81 billion (roughly €72 billion), or almost $111 billion including Warner Bros debts passed on as part of the deal. DW reported Skydance shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday under the ticker SKYD, and that Warner Bros Discovery shareholders will receive about $31 per share.

David Ellison, son of tech tycoon Larry Ellison, is chairman and CEO, according to Al Jazeera and DW. DW reported that Ynon Kreiz, who previously led Mattel, is co-CEO in charge of day-to-day operations. The company targets about $6 billion in cost savings within three years, according to DW; the BBC described the target as $6bn in annual savings. DW reported the company looks set to have total revenue in the region of $70 billion, and the BBC and Al Jazeera reported it carries $80bn in debt.

DW reported the deal closed less than a week after a federal judge in California approved a settlement between Paramount and 12 US states that had sued to block the transaction on antitrust grounds. Al Jazeera reported the settlement requires an independent editorial board to oversee both news networks, and that Skydance has 180 days to put it together. The BBC reported the settlement also sets film quotas for five years: 30 movies annually for the first two years and 32 each year after that, 156 in total. The majority must be wide releases, meaning films shown in cinemas, and at least four independent films each year, according to the BBC.

Al Jazeera reported that on 5 October the company announced Mark Thompson will stay on as CNN's editor-in-chief and Bari Weiss will stay as CBS News editor-in-chief. In a memo to staffers, Thompson said "the specifics of how CNN will plug into and operate in the new company have yet to be finalized." Seth Stern, director of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, told Al Jazeera the editorial board "doesn't take effect for 180 days. The newsroom can be totally overhauled in 180 days."

DW reported Ellison said the day was significant "not just for Skydance but for our entire industry." Mike Proulx, research director at Forrester, told the BBC that price increases are likely and that "it's far-fetched to think it'll prevent downstream price hikes." The BBC reported that actors and writers gathered at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles to oppose the deal, and that Criminal Minds star Kirsten Vangsness told the BBC she was "heartbroken."