Paramount completes $110 billion Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition
publishers 41articles 43first reported 1 Oct, 07:01 UTCdeveloping since 1 Oct · 15 editions
Paramount Skydance completed its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on Tuesday, combining the companies under the new corporate name Skydance.
The deal unites Paramount and Warner Bros., two major Hollywood studios, along with the Paramount+ and HBO Max streaming services. The combined company also controls CBS News and CNN and cable networks including Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, TBS and TNT. Its film and television properties include the Harry Potter, Mission: Impossible, DC and Game of Thrones franchises.
David Ellison, who led Paramount Skydance through the acquisition, will serve as co-CEO with former Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz. Kreiz is expected to oversee day-to-day operations, while Ellison focuses on creative strategy and relationships with talent.
The transaction followed a bidding contest in which Netflix had previously agreed to buy Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming operations. It also faced antitrust lawsuits from 12 state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America. Settlements cleared the way for completion.
Under the settlement with the states, the company pledged to produce 30 theatrical films in each of the first two years after the merger and not to sell or close the Paramount or Warner Bros. studio lots in Los Angeles for at least five years. It also agreed to establish a board intended to help preserve the editorial independence of CBS News and CNN.
Ellison has set a target of $6 billion in cost savings. In an employee email, Ellison and Kreiz said integrating the companies would involve “difficult decisions” affecting the workforce.
HOW THIS STORY WAS MADE
Written from 8 articles, 6 with the publisher's own text; 8 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one; this version written 122 h after the record first saw the story; the editor kept it as written.
- Publishers
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- Source articles
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- Given to the writer
- 8, 6 with the article's own text
- Independent newsrooms
- 8
- This version written
- 122 h after the record first saw the story
- Second model (editor)
- kept as written
- Publication gate
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- Human review
- none
WHAT THE EDITOR DID
The second model checked the writer's draft against the same sources and published it as written.
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