Topline
Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery will become known as “Skydance” when the two companies formally merge, Paramount CEO David Ellison said Friday, as plans for the new media giant begin to take shape before the controversial merger gets finalized next week.
David Ellison at the Paramount Pictures Presentation during CinemaCon 2026 on April 16 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Variety via Getty Images
Key Facts
Ellison announced the new name on social media Friday, saying the company “wanted a name that would give the combined company an identity of its own while allowing Paramount and Warner Bros. … to remain in the spotlight.”
The announcement comes ahead of the company’s plan to close the $110 billion merger on Tuesday, bringing an end to what’s been a contentious process as the merger has faced widespread opposition.
The merger was allowed to move ahead this week when a federal judge approved a settlement reached between Paramount and states opposing the deal, despite widespread opposition of the settlement being overly favorable to Paramount and failing to address antitrust concerns about the new combined entity having too much control over the entertainment industry.
Ellison has sought to allay those concerns in the wake of the settlement being approved, claiming Friday that Skydance “will honor what makes Paramount and Warner Bros. special — giving both studios the opportunity to grow, tell more great stories and bring those stories to even broader audiences around the world.”
More plans have also been revealed in recent days about what the new merged companies could look like, as Ellison named Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz as the new co-CEO of Skydance and reports suggest Ellison intends to keep CNN operating without oversight from CBS news chief Bari Weiss.
What to Watch for
It still remains to be fully seen what the new Skydance will look like and how it will operate. HBO chief Casey Bloys, who’s been widely considered as the likely person to lead Skydance’s combined streaming efforts, said Thursday he wouldn’t confirm any role he’d hold at the new company, for instance, noting at a Bloomberg event that the “deal was not closed” and he believed Ellison “and the team want to announce their leadership structure” themselves. Bloys did say he believed it was more likely that streaming services HBO Max and Paramount+ would continue to operate separately but be offered as a bundle to consumers, rather than combine into a single streaming service. The New York Times also reported Weiss is unlikely to oversee CNN at this point, as Ellison has reportedly asked current CNN head Mark Thompson to stay on, but noted Weiss’ role “could eventually change.”
Big Number
$7 million. That’s how much Paramount is now paying Warner Bros. shareholders per day until the deal is closed, after a “ticking fee” kicked in Thursday that imposes a financial penalty on Paramount for delaying the deal.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
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