10:28 a.m. CT
Skydance signage goes up at Warner Bros. offices
The rebrand is already happening in the physical world. Photos shared Tuesday morning show Skydance lettering going up on Warner Bros. offices, with the new company name displayed across the windows alongside the Warner Bros. shield logo.
After a year-long pursuit, the biggest media merger in recent memory is done. Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery officially closed Tuesday morning, creating a $110 billion entertainment giant called Skydance.
David Ellison, 43, becomes chairman and CEO of the combined company, with Ynon Kreiz serving as co-CEO. The new Skydance starts life carrying roughly $80 billion in debt, with a plan to reshape the traditional media business into a tech-oriented operation built to compete with Netflix, Amazon and Disney. Shares in the combined company begin trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange, while shares of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery have been discontinued on the Nasdaq.
The assets now under one roof are staggering: two century-old movie studios, major TV studios, streaming services and networks including HBO and CNN.
The road to closing was anything but smooth. Paramount made more than a dozen attempts to win over the Warner Bros. Discovery board over the past year, eventually outbidding an accepted Netflix offer for just WBD’s streaming and studio business with a sweetened pitch to buy the entire company. Along the way the deal survived an antitrust lawsuit from the attorneys general of 12 states and a suit from the Writers Guild of America, with regulators ultimately settling for a five-year consent decree built around behavioral remedies.
“Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry,” Ellison said in a statement, adding that the focus now is on “building a company that empowers creatives, entertains audiences and rewards shareholders.”
The closing was reported Tuesday morning by Deadline.