Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger clears final hurdle, to close this week as Skydance Corporation

Paramount Skydance Corporation is two days from closing the largest media merger in more than a decade. The $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery is scheduled to become final on October 6, after which the combined company will shed both legacy names and become Skydance Corporation, trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SKYD.

The deal brings together two of Hollywood's oldest studios — Paramount Pictures, founded in 1912, and Warner Bros., founded in 1923 — along with CBS, CNN, HBO Max, MTV, Discovery Channel and the DC and Harry Potter franchises, under a single owner for the first time. It caps an eight-month pursuit that began when Paramount, itself freshly reconstituted after Skydance Media's merger with the original Paramount Global closed in August 2025, set its sights on its larger rival.

The price, and who is paying for it

Under the terms disclosed when the two companies signed their definitive merger agreement on February 27, Paramount will pay Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders $31.00 in cash for every share they hold. Because the deal did not close by September 30 as originally targeted, WBD investors are also entitled to a small daily "ticking fee" — just over a quarter of a cent per share per day — that lifts the final payout to roughly $31.02 a share if the merger closes on schedule. The transaction values Warner Bros. Discovery at an enterprise value of $110 billion, equal to 7.5 times the combined company's projected 2026 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, according to the companies' own announcement.

Financing a deal of that size has required Paramount to lean heavily on its controlling shareholders. The company issued $47 billion of new Class B shares at $16.02 apiece, an offering fully backed by the Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners, the private equity firm that helped bankroll Skydance's original takeover of Paramount. On top of that equity raise, Paramount priced $41.4 billion in secured notes across several tranches in the days before closing, debt that one market tracker pointed out dwarfs the company's existing market value.

A judge clears the last roadblock

The final legal obstacle fell on October 1, when a federal judge approved a consent decree settling objections raised by a coalition of 12 state attorneys general. The settlement requires the combined company to maintain annual theatrical release minimums with specified theatrical windows, to keep a floor on domestic production spending, and to refrain from selling or shuttering either the Paramount or Warner Bros. studio lots — concessions aimed squarely at protecting production jobs in Los Angeles and the broader entertainment workforce that depends on both studios staying active. News of the settlement, paired with the scale of the new debt, nonetheless sent Paramount Skydance shares down 5 percent that day, extending the stock's year-to-date decline to 26 percent, even as Warner Bros. Discovery shares held roughly flat.

"From the very beginning, our pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery has been guided by a clear purpose: to honor the legacy of two iconic companies while accelerating our vision of building a next-generation media and entertainment company," said David Ellison, chairman and chief executive of Paramount Skydance, when the deal was announced in February.

From Skydance Media to Skydance Corporation

The new name, confirmed in a regulatory filing disclosing the ticker and listing change, retires both "Paramount" and "Warner Bros. Discovery" as corporate identities in favor of Skydance, the production company David Ellison founded in 2010. The Class B shares will begin trading on the NYSE as "SKYD" at the market open on October 6, replacing the "PSKY" ticker the stock has carried on Nasdaq. Shareholders of record as of October 5 — excluding the Ellison family, Gerald Cardinale, RedBird Capital Partners and company retirement plans — will also receive a distribution of warrants to purchase additional Class B shares, intended to compensate outside investors for the dilution caused by the merger's heavy use of new equity.

Running the combined company will fall to two chief executives rather than one. Ellison will remain chairman and retain control of strategy, creative direction and capital allocation, while Ynon Kreiz, who has led the toy maker Mattel since 2018, joins as co-chief executive effective October 5 to oversee day-to-day operations and the integration of the two businesses.

• Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. will both continue operating as distinct studio brands under the consent decree's terms
• CBS News and CNN will sit inside the same corporate parent for the first time
• Streaming services Paramount+ and HBO Max remain separate at closing, though executives have signaled eventual integration
• The merger agreement commits the combined studios to a minimum of 15 theatrical films apiece annually

Who stands to feel the impact

For Warner Bros. Discovery's shareholders, the deal's completion means an orderly cash exit at a fixed price, ending the uncertainty that has hung over the stock since talks became public earlier this year. For employees across both companies, the consent decree's production-spending floor offers some protection against the immediate layoffs that typically follow megamergers, though neither company has detailed how the two overlapping corporate staffs, marketing departments or distribution arms will be consolidated. Industry trade press was quick to note the symbolism of the new name: Variety described the rebrand as Ellison stamping his own studio's identity onto two companies with a combined 213 years of history, a choice that has drawn criticism from some industry observers who argue it erases storied names in favor of a newer, smaller production house.

What happens next

Barring a last-minute disruption, the merger becomes effective at closing on October 6, when Warner Bros. Discovery will be absorbed as a wholly owned subsidiary of what is by then Skydance Corporation. The stock listing change to the NYSE and the ticker switch to SKYD take effect the same day, as does Kreiz's arrival in the co-chief executive role. Investors will be watching the integration closely for signs of how quickly the combined company can realize the synergies it has promised, and whether its heavy debt load — now several multiples of its pre-merger market value — proves manageable as interest rates and content costs remain elevated.