Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Skydance (SKYD +9.86%) finally swallowed Warner Bros. Discovery on Oct. 6. The combined company owns HBO, CBS, CNN, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., and dozens of cable networks. That's a lot of media in one place.

The market's reaction? Shares closed at an adjusted $9.07 on Oct. 13 and trade at $7.06 today, down 22.2% over the past week. At roughly 5 billion shares, the whole empire is worth about $35.4 billion. Netflix (NFLX -4.74%) sits at $291.5 billion, about 8 times larger.

Is Mr. Market being unfair to the new kid? I dug through the filings.

Short answer: no. Skydance's discount looks earned.

Image source: Getty Images.

5 notes on Skydance's discount 1: Skydance's debt Skydance's pro forma net debt is $78.9 billion. That's more than double the stock's market cap. The capital structure table reads like a restaurant menu, with every dish a different flavor of debt.

Management wants leverage down to 3.75 times EBITDA by 2028. My napkin math says the leverage ratio is near 6 times today. Reaching the target depends on $6 billion of promised synergies. Skydance won't evaluate additional shareholder returns until it reaches investment-grade credit metrics.

That could take years, assuming Skydance meets its cash-generation goals in the first place.

SKYD Skydance$7.80+$0.70 (+9.86%)

NYSE · As of 2:29 PM ET 10/21/26

2: The folks who paid $12 per share To close the merger, Skydance raised $47 billion of fresh equity at $12 per share. Those buyers didn't get any of the new stock warrants, either; those went only to public holders. The stock now sits 41.2% below the $12 purchase price. Ouch.

3: The businesses In Warner Bros. Discovery's last solo quarter, revenue fell 11.2% year over year. Linear ad sales were down 27%, studio profits down 89%. Paramount Skydance's sales were roughly flat, with its TV segment down 9.4%. Together, they earned $190 million on $15.6 billion of sales.

Netflix earned $3.4 billion on $12.6 billion in revenue in the same quarter. Less revenue, about 18 times the profit. I checked that twice.

Fun footnote: Netflix's first-quarter pre-tax profit got a $2.8 billion boost from the breakup fee Warner owed it. Paramount drew on its credit line to help pay that bill. The deal was padding Netflix's profits before it even closed.

NFLX Netflix$65.44-$3.26 (-4.74%)

NASDAQ · As of 2:28 PM ET 10/21/26

4: The 2030 dream vs. Netflix's 2026 reality Skydance hopes to generate $10 billion or more of free cash flow by 2030. Netflix expects about $12.5 billion this year, and presumably more in the 2027-2030 span. The new rival's target four years out still trails Netflix's current cash machine.

5: Netflix's price tag Netflix stock trades at 18.5 times forward earnings. It carries some net debt, but only $5.2 billion. The company executed $4.7 billion of buybacks in a single quarter. Netflix could erase its net debt by slowing down those buybacks for a couple of quarters. (Retiring the entire long-term debt of $11.8 billion would take longer.)

And its shares are nowhere near the 52-week high of $124.86. That's a sale price for a business running a 33.4% operating margin. By comparison, Skydance's operating margin is a single-digit figure, just below 5%.

Bottom line (for now) Skydance is cheap because it's hauling a mountain of debt up a hill made of shrinking cable networks. Maybe the synergies show up on schedule. I'm not betting on it.

Netflix offers a clean balance sheet, a powerful cash machine, and a stock price that finally makes sense again. I know which one I'd rather own.

, /PRNewswire/ -- Skydance Corporation (NYSE: SKYD) announced today that it will report third quarter 2026 financial results on Monday, November 9, 2026. The company will conduct a conference call following the release of its earnings materials, with a live audio webcast available on Skydance's Investors website at ir.skydance.com beginning at 2:00 p.m. (PT) / 5:00 p.m. (ET)

The conference call can also be accessed by dialing 800-715-9871 (U.S. domestic) or 646-307-1963 (international) using conference ID 70710. Please call five minutes in advance to ensure that you are connected prior to the call.

An audio replay of the call will be available on November 9 in the Events & Webcasts section of Skydance's Investors website.

The earnings release and any other information related to the call will be accessible on Skydance's Investors website as well.

To automatically receive Skydance's latest financial news by email, please visit the ir.skydance.com and subscribe to email alerts.

About Skydance
Skydance is a next-generation global media and entertainment company, composed of three business segments: Studios, Direct-to-Consumer, and TV Media. Skydance's portfolio unites legendary brands, including Paramount, Warner Bros., HBO and HBO Max, Paramount+, Pluto TV, CBS, CNN, CBS Sports, TNT Sports, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, MTV, Food Network, BET, HGTV, and Comedy Central.

SKYD-IR

SOURCE Skydance Corporation

Amidst a shaky stock performance and big debts, Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery parent Skydance now faces a new court challenge to the company’s authority over its streaming assets and corporate strategy.

It may all end up being the legal equivalent of a tsetse fly, but the latest flex by a gaggle of streaming subscribers to put some brakes on Skydance’s “post-closing organizational changes” at HBO Max and Paramount+ comes as the David Ellison-run conglomerate hopes to bring in new equity investors to booster the bottom line.

“Plaintiffs request an order requiring Defendants Paramount Skydance Corporation and Skydance Media, LLC to hold and operate separately, pending final adjudication or further order, the acquired Warner Bros. Discovery businesses and assets necessary to preserve viable independent HBO Max and Paramount+ services, together with identifiable associated film and national-news operations, so the Court may order effective divestiture if Plaintiffs prevail,” reads a preliminary injunction motion filed in federal court October 16, serving as a refiling of an earlier case. “Plaintiffs seek preservation of separate operations and relief against irreversible integration, not rescission of the completed closing.”

In their long and likely rocky road to neutering the $111 billion Paramount-WBD merger that was made official September 30, the plaintiffs — Pamela Faust, Len Marazzo, Lisa McCarthy, Deborah Rubinsohn and Gary Talewsky — are also seeking a December 3 hearing before U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín on their antitrust request.

The 16-page motion acknowledges that “the merger has closed.” But leaning into the big-picture ramifications of the price hike for the stand-alone streamer Discovery+ last week, the document adds: “The question now is whether the Court will preserve its power to afford an effective remedy.”

To that, the nine-point proposed order aims to go further than a widely criticized September 21 settlement that a coalition of 12 blue state attorneys general made with Ellison in their own antitrust battle.

For instance: “Separate operation. Defendants shall maintain separate identifiable operational functions for the Legacy Paramount Streaming Business and the Acquired Streaming Business. They shall maintain records sufficient to reconstruct separate revenues, expenditures, contractual rights, subscribers, content rights, and material assets of each business. They shall not eliminate the standalone Paramount+ or HBO Max subscription product or compel subscribers to migrate into a single replacement service.”

In other words, no cost-cutting relief for Team Ellison from one big streamer, at least not yet. Ellison has confirmed that after a bundling period, the home of Taylor Sheridan universe and the home of Lanterns and Game of Thrones spinoffs will become one.

“Long-term, the plan is basically to bring them together,” Ellison said in a post-merger presser two weeks ago. At added at the time: “I can’t be specific about that yet today.”

L-R: Skydance bosses David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz

Although Judge Martínez-Olguín dismissed a previous April-filed case for lack of standing, she did allow plaintiffs the right to refile, which they have via their San Francisco-based Alioto Law Firm and Foreman & Brasso firms. With that, timing is important here, as the full Paramount-WBD antitrust case is set for a dismissal hearing Wednesday; Martínez-Olguín was the judge who signed off on the settlement that turned out to be the final shoe to drop to make Ellison’s Hollywood dream deal a reality.

Interestingly, the new legal action is not slapping down the merger right now. Instead Faust, Marazzo, McCarthy, Rubinsohn and Talewsky are focused splitting up the studios in the short term. If the judge were to grant a preliminary injunction, it would certainly slow-walk the plans of Ellison and newly minted Skydance co-CEO Ynon Kreiz to tackle the $80 billion debt the melded company has.

That could prove a challenging result for Skydance outside Martínez-Olguín’s Oakland courthouse.

After just under two weeks of trading as one company, Skydance shares have been struggling, trading down about 3% middday Monday at under $7, near their low; the stock was pushing $10 when the WBD deal closed October 6. For context, Paramount Skydance hit a 52-week high of $17 in the fall of 2026 after those two companies merged.

With earnings season about to kick off, Skydance will face investors within weeks (date still TBA) and Wall Street is looking for Ellison to outline a strategy and address jitters over heavy debt. After one of the biggest leveraged buyouts in corporate history, that has become increasingly pressing as interest rates rise.

Skydance did not respond Monday to Deadline’s request for comment on the latest filing.

Jill Goldsmith contributed to this report.

, /PRNewswire/ -- Skydance Corporation (f/k/a Paramount Skydance Corporation) (NYSE: SKYD) (the "Company") today provided details regarding the distribution of warrants to certain holders of approximately 9% of its Class B common stock.

On October 6, 2026, the Company consummated its previously announced acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. In connection with the acquisition, the Company distributed on October 13, 2026, one warrant to purchase one share of Class B Common Stock for each share of Class B Common Stock held by a public stockholder as of the record date of October 5, 2026. The total amount of warrants was approximately 471 million and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on October 13, 2026, under the symbol SKYD.WS, with the ex-dividend date of October 14, 2026.

On October 13, the NYSE disclosed the planned adjustment to the Class B Common Stock in the amount of $0.19368 (from approximately $9.27 to approximately $9.07) based on the official closing price of the warrants of $2.20. The Company understands this adjustment was determined based on the official closing price of the warrants on October 13, 2026, pro rata for the percentage (approximately 9%) that the approximately 471 million shares of Class B Common Stock that were entitled to receive a warrant represents of shares outstanding (approximately 5 billion).

The following table outlines illustrative values associated with the pre and post separation of the warrants, based on the closing price of SKYD on October 13, 2026:

Value pre-
warrants

Implied Value
with Warrants

Notes

Shares Outstanding (B)

5.0

5.0

Class B Share Price

$9.27

$9.07

Based on the reference price as set by NYSE, which is a pro rata
adjustment for the 471M warrants issued relative to shares
outstanding

Market Cap ($B)

$46.6

$45.6

Warrants Issued (B)

0.47

0.47

Warrant Price

$0.00

$2.20

Determined by the closing price of when-issued trading on 10/13

Warrant Value ($B)

$0

$1.0

Total Equity Value
(Shares Outstanding  + warrants) ($B)

$46.6

$46.6

About Skydance
Skydance is a next-generation global media and entertainment company, composed of three business segments: Studios, Direct-to-Consumer, and TV Media. Skydance's portfolio unites legendary brands, including Paramount, Warner Bros., HBO and HBO Max, Paramount+, Pluto TV, CBS, CNN, CBS Sports, TNT Sports, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, MTV, Food Network, BET, HGTV, and Comedy Central.

SKYD-IR

Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This communication contains "forward-looking statements" regarding the completed acquisition of WBD and the integration, synergies, financial and leverage targets, strategy, impact on competition, and other go-forward matters of the combined company. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations of future events. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results could vary materially from the expectations and projections of Paramount or WBD. Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: risks that the expected benefits, synergies and opportunities of the completed acquisition may not be realized or may take longer to realize than expected; risks and costs associated with the integration of the business of WBD, including the ability to integrate successfully and to achieve anticipated synergies and financial targets; risks that the combined company may not achieve the expected run-rate synergies, net leverage, free cash flow or other financial goals described in this press release within the expected timeframes or at all; potential disruption to business operations and relationships as a result of the completed acquisition and ongoing integration; the risk of stockholder litigation relating to the acquisition of WBD; risks related to Paramount's streaming business; the adverse impact on Paramount's advertising revenues as a result of changes in consumer behavior, advertising market conditions and deficiencies in audience measurement; risks related to operating in highly competitive and dynamic industries; the unpredictable nature of consumer behavior, as well as evolving technologies and distribution models; risks related to Paramount's decisions to invest in new businesses, products, services and technologies, and the evolution of Paramount's business strategy; the potential for loss of carriage or other reduction in, or the impact of negotiations for, the distribution of Paramount's content; damage to Paramount's reputation or brands; losses due to asset impairment charges for goodwill, content and long-lived assets, including finite-lived intangible assets; liabilities related to discontinued operations and former businesses; increasing scrutiny of, and evolving expectations for, sustainability initiatives; evolving business continuity, cybersecurity, privacy and data protection and similar risks; challenges in protecting and maintaining Paramount's intellectual property rights; domestic and global political, economic and regulatory factors affecting Paramount's business generally or the completed acquisition of WBD; the inability to hire or retain key employees or secure creative talent; disruptions to Paramount's operations as a result of labor disputes; risks and costs associated with the integration of, and Paramount's ability to integrate, the businesses of Paramount Global, Paramount, Skydance and WBD successfully and to achieve anticipated synergies, including in the amounts or on the timelines anticipated to realize such synergies; litigation relating to the transactions contemplated by the transaction agreement entered into on July 7, 2024, between Paramount Global and Skydance Media, LLC, potentially resulting in substantial costs; volatility in the price of Paramount's Class B common stock; the effect Paramount's dual-class capital structure and the concentrated ownership may have on the price of its Class B common stock or business; risks related to a private sale of a controlling interest in Paramount, including that Paramount's stockholders may not realize any change of control premium on shares of Paramount's Class B common stock and that Paramount may become subject to the control of a presently unknown third party; risks associated with Paramount's status as a "controlled company" under NYSE rules, including its exemption from certain corporate governance requirements; risks associated with the lack of voting rights of Paramount's Class B common stock; risks that anti-takeover provisions in Paramount's amended and restated certificate of incorporation ("Charter") and amended and restated bylaws, and under Delaware law, could deter, delay, or prevent a change of control; risks that exclusive forum provisions in Paramount's Charter could limit a stockholder's choice of forum for certain claims and discourage lawsuits against Paramount's directors and officers; risks that corporate opportunity provisions in Paramount's Charter could permit certain persons to pursue competitive opportunities that might otherwise be available to Paramount; risks associated with Paramount's holding company structure, including its dependence on distributions from its subsidiaries to meet tax obligations and other cash requirements; risks related to the combined company's ability to incur substantially more debt and its ability to meet the financial and other covenants contained in the agreements governing its substantial indebtedness; risks relating to the combined company's ability to deleverage the business in accordance with management's targets, including risks arising from assumptions, uncertainties and contingencies that may affect our ability to reduce indebtedness; risks relating to management's ability to execute on its strategic plan and improve the combined company's financial profile and cash flows from operations; and risks relating to any capital or other financing the combined company may have to raise in order to reduce its indebtedness following the acquisition of WBD. A further list and description of these risks, uncertainties and other factors and the general risks associated with the respective businesses of Paramount and WBD can be found in Paramount's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, filed with the SEC on February 25, 2026, as amended by Paramount's Annual Report on Form 10-K/A, filed with the SEC on April 24, 2026, as superseded by, and solely to the extent set forth in, Paramount's Current Report on Form 8-K, filed with the SEC on May 13, 2026, Paramount's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2026, filed with the SEC on August 4, 2026, including in the sections captioned "Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements" and "Item 1A. Risk Factors," and Paramount's subsequent filings with the SEC, and WBD's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, filed with the SEC on February 27, 2026, WBD's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2026, filed with the SEC on August 6, 2026, in each case, including in the sections captioned "Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements" and "Item 1A. Risk Factors," and WBD's subsequent filings with the SEC, including filings related to the acquisition of WBD. Copies of these filings, as well as subsequent filings, are available online at www.sec.gov, https://ir.paramount.com/sec-filings/paramount, https://ir.corporate.discovery.com/financials/sec-filings, as applicable, or on request from Paramount or WBD. Neither Paramount nor WBD undertakes to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information or future events or developments, except as required by law. We are not able to reconcile forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures because we are unable without unreasonable efforts to accurately estimate the individual adjustments for such reconciliations, as applicable, or to quantify the probable significance of these items at this time.

SOURCE Skydance Corporation

Premium Feature

Moneyball Superscore

36/100

Today's Change

(

-23.84

%) $

-2.21

Current Price

$

7.06

Skydance (SKYD -23.84%), a global studio, streaming, and TV media conglomerate, closed at $7.06, down 23.84%. The move reflected that warrants began trading separately from SKYD stock on today's ex-distribution date, and investors are watching the valuation reset. Trading volume reached 79.1M shares, coming in about 309% above its three-month average of 19.3M shares. Skydance IPO'd in 2026 and has fallen 26% since going public.

How the markets moved todayThe S&P 500 (^GSPC -1.11%) closed at 7,721, down 1.08%, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -1.88%) finished at 26,693, down 1.88%. Among film, television, streaming, and media distribution peers, Walt Disney (DIS +0.38%) closed at $109.01, up 0.40%, and Comcast (CMCSA +0.81%) closed at $21.05, up 0.81%, highlighting mixed trading across large media names.

What this means for investorsSkydance shares slipped 24% today after the company issued 471 million warrants to former Paramount Skydance (formerly PSKY stock) Class B shareholders, granting them the option to buy new company shares. The warrant lets PSKY holders buy SKYD shares for $12 apiece, with an expiration date of 2036.

Since the warrants "detached" from SKYD stock's share price today, Skydance shares adjusted downward. Should all of these warrants be exercised, it would generate about $5.7 billion for Skydance but would increase its shares outstanding by roughly 10% -- further explaining today's market reaction.

The combined Skydance company is home to roughly $80 billion in net debt, versus an expected $11.2 billion in adjusted EBITDA, making this a highly leveraged bet for investors to consider. Trading with a forward EV/EBITDA around 10, SKYD stock isn't outrageously cheap considering the risk.

Josh Kohn-Lindquist has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Walt Disney. The Motley Fool recommends Comcast. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Skydance shares are adjusting to the distribution of warrants that give eligible shareholders the right to buy stock at $12 a share.

As it begins its second week as a bulked-up public company, Skydance has raised prices of stand-alone streaming service Discovery+.

The base-level, ad-supported tier now costs $6.99 a month, up $1, and the “ad-light” higher tier is $11.99, a $2 increase.

Skydance was formed from the merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, which officially closed last week. The new company is saddled with nearly $80 billion in debt and has pledged to whittle it down along with delivering $6 billion in cost savings. Along with back-end efficiencies, real estate sales and layoffs, higher streaming rates are expected, in keeping with inflation across the media sector of late.

Discovery+, which features programming from a range of cable networks, has remained a stand-alone since its launch in 2021. It initially was priced at $4.99 for the base tier and $6.99 for the plan with fewer ads, offering 50,000 hours of programming from networks like TLC, Discovery, HGTV and the Food Network.

After former parent Discovery Communications merged with WarnerMedia in 2022, the new parent looked at combining Discovery+ with HBO Max and went so far as to rebrand the latter as Max to reflect a broader content offering. Audiences and partners balked at the mixture of upmarket HBO fare with lifestyle and unscripted fare, and the corporate bosses preserved Discovery+ as a lower-priced option for consumers. In part because the company does not commission originals for Discovery+, it has been profitable for most of its existence.

HBO Max announced a round of price hikes last fall, with the basic ad-tier rising $1 to $10.99 a month and the popular Standard plan climbing to $18.49.

David Zaslav is making a lot of money from Paramount Skydance’s merger with Warner Bros Discovery – and so are plenty of other people who have been working for him, On The Money has learned.

Zaslav’s massive payout as CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery was roundly attacked in the Hollywood ecosystem. WBD got off to a slow start under his watch, yet he was paid millions. What was left out, however, is that most came via stock options when shares were trading at $7 and could be exercised at $10. 

Now that the deal is complete at $31 a share ($81 billion in equity valuation), Zas will walk away with around $1 billion all-in, I am told. But – and this is an important but – he made sure that the wealth effect of the deal more than trickled down through WBD, and not just among senior executives as is usually the case in such transactions.

Now that the deal is complete at $31 a share ($81 billion in equity valuation), David Zaslav will walk away with around $1 billion all-in. But – and this is an important but – he made sure that the wealth effect of the deal more than trickled down through WBD Jack Forbes / NY Post Design To start, about a dozen people who work for him are leaving with at least $40 million each (and some multiples of that). Credit the fact that through his four years of running the company he pushed for an ownership culture. Nearly two-thirds of the company’s 30,000 employees took some of their comp in shares when it was trading close to a penny stock.

From what I understand, 500 employees now are sitting on over $1 million each from the deal. About 1,000 employees got appreciated stock worth $500,000 apiece.

Yes, you will read from the leftist Hollywood community and its media cohorts about Zas achieving billionaire status as if it’s a scarlet letter. You will read less about the assistants who are sitting on sizable nest eggs because that would prove one vital component of the capitalist system — the so-called mergers and acquisitions business — actually can work for the little guys, too.

What is also overlooked in capitalism is that there are no guarantees for success, and you can say WBD was among the least guaranteed success stories in recent merger history. Zas took over officially in 2022 after running Discovery Inc., — known mostly for the Food Network and some specialty cable channels, and merging it with Warner Media — the home of HBO, CNN and the famed Warner Bros. studio – after it was spun off from AT&T.

From what I understand, 500 employees now are sitting on over $1 million each from the deal. About 1,000 employees got appreciated stock worth $500,000 apiece. Christopher Sadowski Media is a tough business. Warner itself has been changing hands for years despite its marquee brands because managers couldn’t make the numbers work.

The telecom guys didn’t do any better than the media vets at running the show, and based on the initial headlines, neither did Zas. The former veteran NBCU exec became a punching bag in Hollywood over what he wouldn’t or couldn’t do, like refusing to over pay for the rights to NBA games. Throw in killing “Bat Girl” in post production and the branding crisis of HBO’s streaming service before finally settling on HBO Max, and you know why his stock hovered in the single digits.

But behind the scenes, however, Zas was righting the ship with cost cutting and a sharp focus on better content. He figured out how to make HMO Max increasingly profitable.

Behind the scenes, Zas was righting the ship with cost cutting and a sharp focus on better content. He figured out how to make HMO Max increasingly profitable. AFP via Getty Images We at On The Money were first to sense that Zas’s game plan was paying off. Last August, well before the bidding war for WBD began, we noted how shares of Warner Bros. Discovery were up more than 53% over the previous 12 months.

The studio was starting to churn out hits and commercial success. He had unveiled plans to break up the company, cleaving its coveted studio and streaming business from the slower growth yet profitable cable properties. “The move lets Zas transfer some of his debt to a company that has better cash flow while he rebuilds the studio, or probably sells it,” as I reported at the time.

About six weeks later, suitors began lining up. Paramount Skydance run by indie producer David Ellison, his dad, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and the savvy media types at RedBird Capital led by Gerry Cardinale were first out of the gate, offering Zas $16 a share.

Paramount Skydance closed its $81 billion acquisition of WBD this week and renamed the combined company Skydance. REUTERS We were first to report he wanted around $30 a share. The media world scoffed – that is, until Zas created a high-stakes bidding war among multiple media behemoths that ultimately narrowed down to Netflix vs Paramount Skydance. Suddenly his $30 a share boast didn’t seem so crazy. Ellison & Co. upped their bid to $31, knocking Netflix out and securing victory in February.

The road to this week’s closing wasn’t simple. A state AG regulatory challenge over nonsensical antitrust concerns delayed the deal from closing until cooler heads prevailed.

One person in the deal who stayed stable through it all, I am told, is Zas and his belief that the deal would eventually be approved. Yes, it made him a billionaire, and made lots of people who worked for him rich as well.

So please – don’t believe everything you’ve heard about this deal, whether it’s from a lefty California politician or a Hollywood actor. America’s not all bad.

The deal merging Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. closed on Tuesday, bringing with it new questions about the future of the companies’ flagship streaming services: Paramount+ and HBO Max.

What will that mean for streaming consumers? So far, the new company hasn’t said much.

Unification “over time”Skydance announced that consumers can expect improvements in its streaming products, as well as a unification into a single service “over time,” according to a press release Tuesday. 

The exact timeline of this unification has not been announced. 

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Skydance has also not announced a pricing plan for the consolidation. Subscriptions to Paramount+ starts at $8.99 per month while HBO Max plans start at $10.99 per month.

What about bundles?Existing bundles like the Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max package have historically brought together brands in a strategic collaboration to make access to different shows and movies across platforms more cost-efficient.

With the completion of the merger, HBO Max said in a company update that there are no plans for price or bundle changes “for now,” but hinted that new bundle options could be on the way.

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CNBC's Carl Quintanilla, David Faber, and Jim Cramer discuss the merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery following CNBC's exclusive interview with David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz.

Skydance Today

$8.87 -0.66 (-6.93%)

As of 03:58 PM Eastern

$7.62▼

$18.872.25%

30.59

$5.78

After months of legal maneuvering, takeover attempts, and corporate eye-gouging, the Warner Bros. Discovery-Paramount merger is finally complete. The $110 billion deal has finally closed, and the new company trades as Skydance Corp. NYSE: SKYD. But while the deal's consummation hogs the headlines, the real story is buried in the balance sheet. Acquiring Warner Bros. required Paramount to take on a tremendous amount of debt, and reducing that leverage through cost savings is now CEO David Ellison’s most important job. The agreement may be done, but the bill is still coming due. Here’s what Skydance owns, what it owes, and how the bull and bear cases may unfold over the next year.

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How the Deal Closed and What SKYD Shareholders Now OwnHere’s a brief recap of how the deal went down. Both the company formerly known as Paramount Skydance and Netflix Inc. NASDAQ: NFLX attempted to buy Warner Bros. Discovery assets in all-stock deals. Netflix originally agreed to buy the company for $27.75 per share, backed by equity, but Paramount stepped in with a hostile bid of $30 per share, backed by a bridge loan. Paramount continued sweetening the pot by upping the offer to $31 per share (plus a daily ticking fee equal to 25 cents per share per quarter), plus offering to pay regulatory fees and a $2.8 billion breakup fee to Netflix. At this point, Netflix withdrew its offer, and the WBD board agreed to the Paramount merger.

But wait, there’s more! In July, 12 state attorneys general sued Paramount, seeking to block the merger by claiming it would undermine competition in the film industry. Paramount settled the lawsuit in September by agreeing to invest at least $300 million annually in domestic film production and to release at least 30 theatrical films in each of the next two years (or pay a $30 million penalty for each film it falls short). The exciting saga finally concluded on Oct. 6, when SKYD shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange, and WBD was pulled from the NASDAQ. You could pitch this whole ordeal to a studio as prestige corporate drama, and given the box-office performance of Digger, Skydance might want to take the meeting.

The new conglomerate now comprises Paramount and Warner Bros. film and TV production studios, CBS, HBO, CNN, TNT Sports, Paramount+, and a range of cable networks, including Nickelodeon, Showtime, BET, and Comedy Central. Additionally, Skydance holds rights to major franchises like DC, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Trek, and pretty much everything under Taylor Sheridan’s cowboy hat. But shareholders also get a piece of the $51.9 billion in new financing obligations on the balance sheet, bringing pro forma long-term debt to roughly $80 billion, versus a cash position of $7.9 billion. Interest expenses on the loans totaled $3.1 billion in the first half of 2026, and the key to reducing this debt load is through what Ellison calls ‘synergies.’

Bull Case: Streaming Margins Scale and Cost Savings Arrive EarlyWhen Ellison channels the cringe with “synergies,” he means the cost savings of combining two similar businesses. The new entity can increase margins through larger-scale contracts, cut spending on content bidding, consolidate offices and technology, and yes, reduce overhead by cutting jobs. Ellison claimed in a CNBC interview that these measures will save the company $6 billion in run-rate costs and factored that number into his 4.3x leverage estimate. He also stated the company realized $3 billion in synergies by the time the deal closed, and is targeting more than $10 billion in free cash flow by 2030 and 3.0 net leverage by the end of 2029.

The company will need more than corporate cost-cutting to manage its debt. Ellison plans to merge Paramount+ and HBO Max into a single streamer, which should help improve margins while minimizing user attrition. But linear TV continues to struggle, with media advertising revenue down 14% year over year (YOY) in Paramount Skydance's Q2 2026 earnings release. Cable revenues are shrinking, but they still represent the bulk of the company’s earnings, and streaming profit growth will need to offset this decline to cover interest payments.

Skydance Corporation (SKYD) Price Chart for Wednesday, October, 7, 2026

Bear Case: Interest Eats Away Savings and Streaming Growth StallsManaging this debt load will be a challenge. The $6 billion run-rate savings over three years could still fail to produce enough cash to cover the sizable interest on Ellison’s loans. For example, the company collectively owed $3.1 billion in interest through June 30 on the new debt obligations. But according to the pro forma financial statements, the company posted a net loss of $2.1 billion during the same period. Additionally, the settlement with state AGs for 30 annual films and $300 million in U.S. production limits some cost-saving avenues.

Unfortunately, we likely won’t know how much savings have been realized until the fiscal Q4 2026 report drops early next year, since the Q3 report won’t include Warner Bros. revenues. However, the Q3 report (expected in early November) will include media advertising revenues and affiliate renewals, subscriber counts, and streaming earnings guidance. Investors will want to compare streaming growth with linear TV revenue declines to see whether one is outpacing the other, and interest expenses with free cash flow to see whether debt management is under control.

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Shares of Skydance Corporation fell 8% Wednesday, extending their decline into a second day after the completion of the company's $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Skydance began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the new ticker “SKYD” on Tuesday, replacing the Paramount Skydance listing on the Nasdaq exchange.

The stock fell 2.7% on its first trading day and continued lower Wednesday, hovering around $8.70.

The slide comes as investors assess the financial burden and execution challenges facing the newly combined media company, which is set to drastically alter the US media landscape.

The transaction creates a media group with a broad portfolio that includes Paramount and Warner Bros. movie studios, as well as HBO Max, CBS News and CNN.

While the acquisition gives the company a mammoth collection of media assets, the deal has also raised concerns about its debt load and the cost of integrating the two businesses.

The new entity has more than $80 billion in debt, making its balance sheet a major focus for investors.

Recently, Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings downgraded the company's long-term credit rating to BB from BB+.

The downgrade could leave Skydance facing higher borrowing costs and greater vulnerability as it works to integrate the businesses and deliver on its financial targets.

Analysts have also expressed concerns about the risks involved in executing the merger.

TD Cowen analyst Doug Creutz maintained a hold rating while advising skepticism. UBS reiterated its sell rating, citing the company's large debt burden.

The caution contrasts with an upbeat tone from CEO David Ellison, who has emphasized the potential of the combined company while also indicating that cost-cutting measures could affect employees.

“The goal was never simply to add more production capacity, brands or IP. It was to unite the talent, resources and capabilities of these companies into a stronger competitor, one with the scale to take on the biggest players in our industry. Together, we will give these iconic studios the opportunity to win for generations to come,” the company said in a note cited by Variety.

At the same time, the company warned that integrating the two businesses would involve difficult decisions affecting its workforce.

“Integrating two companies will bring change, including difficult decisions that affect our workforce,” the company wrote in the memo.

The comments point to layoffs as one potential avenue for reducing costs as the newly combined company seeks efficiencies.

Skydance is targeting mid-single-digit growth through 2030 and aims to generate more than $6 billion in annualized cost savings within three years.

The ability to deliver those savings while expanding its streaming operations is going to be key.

UBS analyst John Hodulik said shareholder value would depend on whether management can grow the streaming business faster than the decline in its linear television business.

The company will also seek to leverage the combined libraries and media properties of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, creating a larger content portfolio that could be difficult for competitors to match.

For investors, however, the immediate focus remains on whether Skydance can manage its heavy debt burden, execute the integration, and achieve its stated growth and cost-saving targets.

The skepticism is visible as the shares have so far fallen in both sessions since the Warner Bros. Discovery deal was completed.

, /PRNewswire/ -- Skydance Corporation (F/K/A PARAMOUNT SKYDANCE CORPORATION) (NYSE: SKYD) (the "Company") announced today the final tender results of its previously announced (i) offers to purchase (the "Tender Offers" and each, a "Tender Offer") for cash, upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the related offer to purchase (the "Offer to Purchase"), any and all of the identified notes in each series of the Existing Tender Offer Notes (defined by reference to the first table set forth below) issued by Discovery Global Holdings, Inc. (formerly WarnerMedia Holdings, Inc.) (the "DGH Issuer") and Discovery Communications, LLC (the "DCL Issuer" and together with the DGH Issuer, each a "WBD Issuer" and collectively the "WBD Issuers"), as applicable, and (ii) offers to exchange (the "Exchange Offers" and each, an "Exchange Offer" and, together with the Tender Offers, the "Offers" and each, an "Offer"), upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the related exchange offer memorandum (the "Offering Memorandum"), any and all of the identified notes in each series of the Existing Exchange Offer Notes (defined by reference to the second table set forth below) (together with the Existing Tender Offer Notes, the "Offer Notes") issued by the applicable WBD Issuer for notes to be newly issued by the Company (the "New SKYD Notes").

The Offers were made in connection with the acquisition (the "Acquisition") by the Company of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. ("WBD"), which Acquisition was consummated earlier today, October 6, 2026.

The Offers expired at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on October 6, 2026 (the "Expiration Date"). Settlement of the Offers is expected to occur on October 9, 2026 (the "Settlement Date"), subject to all the conditions to the applicable Offer having been satisfied or waived by the Company.

Tender Offers

As of the Expiration Date, based on information provided by Global Bondholder Services Corporation, the tender agent and information agent for the Tender Offers, approximately 98.83% of the aggregate principal amount of Existing Tender Offer Notes were validly tendered in the Tender Offers. As previously announced, holders of Existing Tender Offer Notes who validly tendered (and did not validly withdraw) their Existing Tender Offer Notes in the applicable Tender Offer at or prior to the Expiration Date, and who beneficially owned such tendered Existing Tender Offer Notes on the Expiration Date, are eligible to receive, for each $1,000 in aggregate principal amount of Existing Tender Offer Notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offers, consideration (the "Tender Consideration") determined by reference to the applicable fixed spread specified in the table below for each series of Existing Tender Offer Notes over the yield (the "Reference Yield") based on the bid-side price of the applicable U.S. Treasury Security specified in the table below. The Reference Yields listed in the table below were determined (pursuant to the Offer to Purchase) by the dealer managers at 10:00 a.m., New York City time, today, October 6, 2026. In addition to the Tender Consideration, the Company will pay in cash accrued and unpaid interest on the Existing Tender Offer Notes accepted in the Tender Offers from the applicable latest interest payment date for such series of Existing Tender Offer Notes to, but not including, the Settlement Date.

The following table sets forth the aggregate principal amounts of each series of Existing Tender Offer Notes that the Company has accepted for purchase on the Settlement Date and pricing information for the Tender Offers:

Existing Tender
Offer Notes

Issuer of
Existing
Tender
Offer
Notes

CUSIP No. /
Common Code /
ISIN Eligible to
Participate in the
Tender Offers(1)

Aggregate
Principal Amount
Eligible to
Participate in the
Tender Offers
Prior to Expiration

Aggregate
Principal Amount
Tendered as of
Expiration Date(2)

Reference U.S.
Treasury Security

Reference
Yield

Fixed
Spread
(basis
points)

Tender
Consideration(3)

3.755% Senior
Notes due 2027

DGH Issuer

254948 AH5

US254948AH58

254948 AN2

US254948AN27

U25483 AA3

USU25483AA38

$1,189,336,000

$1,182,277,000

4.250% U.S.T. due
March 15, 2027

4.230 %

0 bps

$997.93

3.950% Senior
Notes due 2028

DCL Issuer

25470D CP2

US25470DCP24

$1,234,458,000

$1,213,171,000

3.875% U.S.T. due
March 15, 2028

4.711 %

0 bps

$989.45

__________

(1)

No representation is made as to the correctness or accuracy of the identifiers listed in this press release or printed on the Existing Tender Offer Notes. Such
identifiers are provided solely for the convenience of the holders.

(2)

As reported by Global Bondholder Services, the tender agent and information agent for the Tender Offers.

(3)

Payable for each $1,000 in aggregate principal amount of Existing Tender Offer Notes tendered as of the Expiration Date and accepted for purchase by the
Company.

Existing Tender Offer Notes that are accepted and purchased on the Settlement Date will be cancelled and will no longer remain outstanding obligations of the WBD Issuers. Existing Tender Offer Notes not tendered pursuant to the Tender Offers will remain outstanding obligations of the DCL Issuer or the DGH Issuer, as applicable.

Exchange Offers

As of the Expiration Date, based on information provided by Global Bondholder Services Corporation, the exchange agent and information agent for the Exchange Offers, approximately 99.15% of the aggregate principal amount of Existing Exchange Offer Notes were validly tendered in the Exchange Offers. As previously announced, holders of Existing Exchange Offer Notes who validly tendered (and did not validly withdraw) their Existing Exchange Offer Notes in the applicable Exchange Offer at or prior to the Expiration Date, and who beneficially own such tendered Existing Exchange Offer Notes on the Expiration Date, are eligible to receive $1,000 or €1,000, as applicable, in aggregate principal amount of the applicable series of New SKYD Notes for each $1,000 or €1,000, as applicable, principal amount of Existing Exchange Offer Notes validly tendered for exchange (the "Exchange Consideration"). Interest on the New SKYD Notes will accrue from (and including) the most recent date on which interest has been paid on the corresponding series of Existing Exchange Offer Notes accepted in the Exchange Offers. On the first interest payment date following the Settlement Date, the Company will pay interest equal to the sum of (i) all accrued and unpaid interest on the Existing Exchange Offer Notes accepted in the Exchange Offers from the latest applicable interest payment date for such series of Existing Exchange Offer Notes to, but not including, the Settlement Date plus (ii) all accrued and unpaid interest on the New SKYD Notes from, and including, the Settlement Date to, but not including, such interest payment date.

The following table sets forth the aggregate principal amounts of each series of Existing Exchange Offer Notes that the Company has accepted for exchange:

Existing Exchange
Offer Notes

Issuer of Existing
Exchange Offer Notes

CUSIP No. / Common
Code / ISIN Eligible to
Participate in the
Exchange Offers(1)

Aggregate Principal
Amount Eligible to
Participate in the
Exchange Offers Prior
to Expiration

Aggregate Principal
Amount Tendered as
of Expiration Date(2)

Exchange Consideration(3)

4.125% Senior Notes
due 2029

DCL Issuer

25470D CQ0

US25470DCQ07

$655,825,000

$654,158,000

$1,000 in aggregate principal
amount of 6.250% Senior Secured
Second Lien Notes due 2029

3.625% Senior Notes
due 2030

DCL Issuer

25470D CR8

US25470DCR89

$914,183,000

$901,354,000

$1,000 in aggregate principal
amount of 4.875% Senior Secured
Second Lien Notes due 2030

5.000% Senior Notes
due 2037

DCL Issuer

25470D CS6

US25470DCS62

$453,281,000

$447,251,000

$1,000 in aggregate principal
amount of 5.000% Senior Secured
Second Lien Notes due 2037

6.350% Senior Notes
due 2040

DCL Issuer

25470D CT4

US25470DCT46

$438,102,000

$431,542,000

$1,000 in aggregate principal
amount of 6.350% Senior Secured
Second Lien Notes due 2040

4.950% Senior Notes
due 2042

DCL Issuer

25470D CU1

US25470DCU19

$130,366,000

$130,307,000

$1,000 in aggregate principal
amount of 4.950% Senior Secured
Second Lien Notes due 2042

4.875% Senior Notes
due 2043

DCL Issuer

25470D CV9

US25470DCV91

$141,584,000

$141,484,000

$1,000 in aggregate principal
amount of 4.875% Senior Secured
Second Lien Notes due 2043

5.200% Senior Notes
due 2047

DCL Issuer

25470D CW7

US25470DCW74

$3,161,000

$2,878,000

$1,000 in aggregate principal
amount of 5.200% Senior Secured
Second Lien Notes due 2047

5.300% Senior Notes
due 2049

DCL Issuer

25470D CX5

US25470DCX57

$247,860,000

$247,683,000

$1,000 in aggregate principal
amount of 5.300% Senior Secured
Second Lien Notes due 2049

4.054% Senior Notes
due 2029

DGH Issuer

254948 AJ1

US254948AJ15

254948 AP7

US254948AP74

U25483 AB1

USU25483AB11

$1,353,828,000

$1,343,925,000

$1,000 in aggregate principal
amount of 6.304% Senior Secured
Second Lien Notes due 2029

4.279% Senior Notes
due 2032

DGH Issuer

254948 AK8

US254948AK87

254948 AQ5

US254948AQ57

$2,691,764,000

$2,673,619,000

$1,000 in aggregate principal
amount of 4.904% Senior Secured
Second Lien Notes due 2032

5.050% Senior Notes
due 2042

DGH Issuer

254948 AL6

US254948AL60

254948 AR3

US254948AR31

U25483 AD7

USU25483AD76

$4,104,687,000

$4,065,355,000

$1,000 in aggregate principal
amount of 5.050% Senior Secured
Second Lien Notes due 2042

5.141% Senior Notes
due 2052

DGH Issuer

254948 AM4

US254948AM44

254948 AS1

US254948AS14

$949,883,000

$944,414,000

$1,000 in aggregate principal
amount of 5.141% Senior Secured
Second Lien Notes due 2052

4.302% Senior Notes
due 2030

DGH Issuer

XS3393993285

339399328

€236,752,000

€235,100,000

€1,000 in aggregate principal
amount of 5.802% Senior Secured
Second Lien Notes due 2030

4.693% Senior Notes
due 2033

DGH Issuer

XS3393994507

339399450

€316,641,000

€311,447,000

€1,000 in aggregate principal
amount of 5.068% Senior Secured

Second Lien Notes due 2033

__________

(1)

No representation is made as to the correctness or accuracy of the identifiers listed in this press release or printed on the Existing Exchange Offer Notes. Such
identifiers are provided solely for the convenience of the holders.

(2)

As reported by Global Bondholder Services, the exchange agent and information agent for the Exchange Offers.

(3)

Consideration (i) per $1,000 in aggregate principal amount of U.S. dollar-denominated Existing Exchange Offer Notes tendered and (ii) per €1,000 in aggregate
principal amount of Euro-denominated Existing Exchange Offer Notes.

Existing Exchange Offer Notes acquired in the Exchange Offers will be retired and cancelled. Existing Exchange Offer Notes not acquired in the Exchange Offers will remain outstanding obligations of the DCL Issuer or DGH Issuer, as applicable.

The Exchange Offers were made pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") promulgated thereunder, and were not registered under any state or foreign securities laws. The New SKYD Notes may not be offered or sold in the United States or to any U.S. persons (as defined below) except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act. The Exchange Offers were made, and the New SKYD Notes were offered and issued, only to holders of applicable Existing Exchange Offer Notes who were (a) reasonably believed to be "qualified institutional buyers" as defined in Rule 144A under the Securities Act or (b) not "U.S. persons," as defined in Rule 902 of Regulation S under the Securities Act (such holders, "Eligible Holders").

General

This press release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any security, and does not constitute an offer, solicitation, or sale of any security in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful.

About Skydance Corporation

Skydance Corporation is a next-generation global media and entertainment company, composed of three business segments: Studios, Direct-to-Consumer, and TV Media. The Company's portfolio unites legendary brands, including Paramount, Warner Bros., HBO and HBO Max, Paramount+, Pluto TV, CBS, CNN, CBS Sports, TNT Sports, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, MTV, Food Network, BET, HGTV, and Comedy Central.

Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This communication contains "forward-looking statements" regarding the transactions referred to herein. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations of future events. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results could vary materially from the expectations and projections of the Company or WBD.

Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the possibility that the transactions described herein will not be completed in the expected timeframe or at all; risks that the expected benefits, synergies and opportunities of the completed acquisition may not be realized or may take longer to realize than expected; risks and costs associated with the integration of the business of WBD, including the ability to integrate successfully and to achieve anticipated synergies and financial targets; risks that the combined company may not achieve the expected run-rate synergies, net leverage, free cash flow or other financial goals described in this press release within the expected timeframes or at all; potential disruption to business operations and relationships as a result of the completed acquisition and ongoing integration; the risk of stockholder litigation relating to the acquisition of WBD; risks related to the Company's streaming business; the adverse impact on the Company's advertising revenues as a result of changes in consumer behavior, advertising market conditions and deficiencies in audience measurement; risks related to operating in highly competitive and dynamic industries; the unpredictable nature of consumer behavior, as well as evolving technologies and distribution models; risks related to the Company's decisions to invest in new businesses, products, services and technologies, and the evolution of the Company's business strategy; the potential for loss of carriage or other reduction in, or the impact of negotiations for, the distribution of the Company's content; damage to the Company's reputation or brands; losses due to asset impairment charges for goodwill, content and long-lived assets, including finite-lived intangible assets; liabilities related to discontinued operations and former businesses; increasing scrutiny of, and evolving expectations for, sustainability initiatives; evolving business continuity, cybersecurity, privacy and data protection and similar risks; challenges in protecting and maintaining the Company's intellectual property rights; domestic and global political, economic and regulatory factors affecting the Company's business generally or the completed acquisition of WBD; the inability to hire or retain key employees or secure creative talent; disruptions to the Company's operations as a result of labor disputes; risks and costs associated with the integration of, and the Company's ability to integrate, the businesses of Paramount Global, Skydance Media LLC ("Skydance") and WBD successfully and to achieve anticipated synergies, including in the amounts or on the timelines anticipated to realize such synergies; litigation relating to the transactions contemplated by the transaction agreement entered into on July 7, 2024, between Paramount Global and Skydance potentially resulting in substantial costs; volatility in the price of the Company's Class B common stock; the effect the Company's dual-class capital structure and the concentrated ownership may have on the price of its Class B common stock or business; risks related to a private sale of a controlling interest in the Company, including that the Company's stockholders may not realize any change of control premium on shares of the Company's Class B common stock and that the Company may become subject to the control of a presently unknown third party; risks associated with the Company's status as a "controlled company" under NYSE rules, including its exemption from certain corporate governance requirements; risks associated with the lack of voting rights of the Company's Class B common stock; risks that anti-takeover provisions in the Company's  amended and restated certificate of incorporation ("Charter") and amended and restated bylaws, and under Delaware law, could deter, delay, or prevent a change of control; risks that exclusive forum provisions in the Company's Charter could limit a stockholder's choice of forum for certain claims and discourage lawsuits against the Company's directors and officers; risks that corporate opportunity provisions in the Company's Charter could permit certain persons to pursue competitive opportunities that might otherwise be available to the Company; risks associated with the Company's holding company structure, including its dependence on distributions from its subsidiaries to meet tax obligations and other cash requirements; risks related to the combined company's ability to incur substantially more debt and its ability to meet the financial and other covenants contained in the agreements governing its substantial indebtedness; risks relating to the combined company's ability to deleverage the business in accordance with management's targets, including risks arising from assumptions, uncertainties and contingencies that may affect the Company's ability to reduce indebtedness; risks relating to management's ability to execute on its strategic plan and improve the combined company's financial profile and cash flows from operations; and risks relating to any capital or other financing the combined company may have to raise in order to reduce its indebtedness following the acquisition of WBD. A further list and description of these risks, uncertainties and other factors and the general risks associated with the respective businesses of the Company and WBD can be found in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, filed with the SEC on February 25, 2026, as amended by the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K/A, filed with the SEC on April 24, 2026, as superseded by, and solely to the extent set forth in, the Company's Current Report on Form 8-K, filed with the SEC on October 6, 2026, the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2026, filed with the SEC on August 4, 2026, including in the sections captioned "Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements" and "Item 1A. Risk Factors," and the Company's subsequent filings with the SEC, and WBD's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, filed with the SEC on February 27, 2026, WBD's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2026, filed with the SEC on August 6, 2026, in each case, including in the sections captioned "Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements" and "Item 1A. Risk Factors," and WBD's subsequent filings with the SEC, including filings related to the acquisition of WBD. Copies of these filings, as well as subsequent filings, are available online at www.sec.gov, https://ir.paramount.com/sec-filings/paramount, https://ir.corporate.discovery.com/financials/sec-filings, as applicable, or on request from the Company or WBD. Neither the Company nor WBD undertakes to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information or future events or developments, except as required by law.

SOURCE Skydance Corporation

Skydance CEO David Ellison reassured a nervous Anderson Cooper that CNN will retain its editorial independence in the wake of the blockbuster Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger.

Cooper interviewed Ellison and his new co-CEO Ynon Kriez about life under the newborn media behemoth at a Los Angeles town hall in front of CNN staff.

“I want to start with a smaller part of this company, but it’s going to cause you headaches: news,” Cooper shakily said to laughter, according to leaked audio of the sit-down. “Asking for a friend — or frenemies, I’m not sure.”

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper interviewed Skydance CEO David Ellison on Tuesday, asking him to pledge that the news network will remain editorially independent. Getty Images for CNN Cooper went on to lay out criticism from some observers, who have slammed CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss’ handling of the network — which was already owned by Paramount before the merger — along with the Ellison family’s Trump ties and War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s recent call for the exec to overhaul CNN.

“Are there changes you want to see in coverage at CNN, are there lessons you do or don’t want to apply from CBS News?” Cooper asked.

“I believe deeply in journalism,” Ellison replied. “In the world we live in today, having truth-based, fact-based, bi-partisan news that informs the public has never been more important.”

The exec added that both CBS News and CNN’s work is “vital to democracy” and that he supports it — while planning “to scale and transition the business digitally.”

Earlier Tuesday, Ellison and Kreiz reportedly gestured at layoffs in a memo to employees.

“Integrating two companies will bring change, including difficult decisions that affect our workforce. We are committed to handling this process thoughtfully and respectfully,”  they wrote, according to Variety, though they did not detail any such plans at the town hall.

Skydance CEO David Ellison said he believes in “complete and total editorial independence.” AFP via Getty Images “As it relates to editorial, we believe in complete and total editorial independence,” Ellison said during the sitdown.

“We trust Mark, we trust the team,” he added, referring to CNN boss Mark Thompson, who will continue to lead the network.

“You’re pledging to not interfere with news coverage of CNN?” Cooper interrupted. He quit a side gig on “60 Minutes” earlier this year, purportedly to spend more time with family, though sources said he really left because he thought Weiss was biased.

“Correct,” Ellison said.

Mark Thompson, chairman and chief executive officer of CNN, will remain in his role at the newly-merged company. Bloomberg via Getty Images “Do you stand by CNN and our effort to restore access to completely cover President Trump?” Cooper asked, citing the cable network’s lawsuit against the Trump administration over the White House move to block it.

“Of course,” Ellison said.

CNN — along with co-plaintiffs MS NOW and Politico — has regained partial access to the White House thanks to a temporary federal court order, though some restrictions are still in place.

Cooper went on to tackle broader questions about the $81 billion merger that officially birthed Skydance on Tuesday.

Ynon Kreiz, Skydance’s co-CEO, touted the media giant’s vast entertainment portfolio and future growth prospects. AP Photo/Chris Pizzello Kreiz, the former CEO of Mattel, touted the company’s vast entertainment porfolio and future growth prospects.

“It is about engagement, it’s about fandom and we have everything it takes to be successful,” he said alongside Ellison.

The combined company will include two historic film studios and their Hollywood lots; major streaming services HBO Max and Paramount+; CNN and CBS News; live sports channels including CBS Sports and TNT Sports; and thousands of iconic movie titles.

Ellison said he supports CNN’s lawsuit to restore access to completely cover President Trump during the company’s townhall. Getty Images Paramount previously said it was aiming to cut $6 billion in costs over three years, partially from layoffs – which has left staff including CNN employees panicking over a potential “bloodbath.” In August, a report from Los Angeles County’s municipal government warned the merger could eradicate 4,500 film and TV jobs.

The deal crossed the finish line after settling an antitrust lawsuit brought by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 11 other AGs, who warned the deal could crush competition, raise consumer prices, limit choices and hurt workers.

Ellison ultimately appeased Bonta with pledges to spend an additional $1.5 billion on domestic production over the next five years and release 30 high-quality theatrical films each year.

Skydance’s Class B shares started trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “SKYD,” the company said in a press release.

WBD shareholders have received an amount in cash equal to roughly $31.02 a share, as per the merger agreement. Its shares ceased trading on the Nasdaq on Tuesday. 

Skydance Corp. (NYSE:SKYD) shares are trending Tuesday after Paramount Skydance Corp. (NASDAQ:PSKY) completed its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.

Skydance Corporation Class B Common Stock is showing notable weakness. Why are SKYD shares down? Skydance Begins Trading as SKYD After Closing Warner Bros DealThe company closed its purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) on Tuesday. Starting today, its Class B shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange as SKYD. Over on Nasdaq, WBD and PSKY shares have stopped trading.

WBD shareholders got about $31.02 per share in cash. The closing came after the company won every required regulatory approval, with competition authorities in nearly 70 jurisdictions unanimously signing off.

The pursuit lasted just over a year, CNBC reported. Warner Bros. Discovery turned down three Paramount offers in late 2025 and then struck a deal to sell its studios and streaming business to Netflix. Paramount countered with a hostile all-cash bid for all of WBD.

State attorneys general later challenged the deal on antitrust grounds, and the sides settled. The combined company holds two of Hollywood’s most storied film studios and close to a third of basic cable programming.

Skydance Combines Studios, Streaming Services and News NetworksHere is what the combined company owns. Skydance now holds two major film studios and two global streaming services. Its television lineup spans CBS, HBO and cable networks from both companies, along with the news operations CBS News and CNN. Live sports come through CBS Sports and TNT Sports. The company says it has more than 200 million streaming subscribers and nearly $70 billion in revenue.

Skydance promised to release at least 30 theatrical films a year, each with a window of at least 45 days in theaters. It already has more than 180 television shows. Chairman and CEO David Ellison said, “Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry.”

Skydance Targets $6 Billion in SynergiesThe company has also laid out financial goals. Skydance aims to find at least $6 billion in run-rate synergies within three years. It says the savings will come mostly from technology, integration, procurement, marketing and real estate. Skydance also plans to cut net leverage to 3.0 times by the end of 2029 and expects to generate more than $10 billion in free cash flow by 2030.

The Ellison family owns the biggest equity stake. Together with RedBird Capital, the family holds every Class A share, and those shares carry 100% of the voting power. Investors put $47 billion of new Class B equity into the deal at $12 per share. Bank of America, Citigroup and Apollo led the debt financing. Much of that financing was disclosed before the closing, which may help explain why shares are steady.

SKYD Shares Are FallingSKYD Price Action: Skydance shares were down 4.81% at $9.31 at the time of publication on Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro.

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David Ellison celebrated his new media empire with a triumphant post, but his own shareholders are already paying a steep price, and the hardest questions about debt, job cuts, and a brutal film quota have only just begun.

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David Ellison marked the combination of Paramount Skydance (NASDAQ:PSKY | PSKY Price Prediction) and Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) with a post saying “What once was the peak, is now just the beginning,” and Elon Musk replied “Congratulations!” Investors have scored the deal very differently. Target shareholders came out ahead, and the acquirer’s shareholders paid for it.

Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery have climbed 9.56% over the past month to $30.95, setting a new 1-year high as the takeover moved to close.

Deal Close Pushes Warner Bros. Discovery to a 1-Year High The main driver of the move is the deal itself. Paramount’s long-fought takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery closed Tuesday, according to CNBC. Over the past month, WBD rose from $28.25 to $30.95. Over the past week it barely moved, up 0.16%, which is typical for a target trading close to deal terms as closing approaches.

The longer view stands out more. WBD is up 62.98% over one year, from a starting price of $18.99. Management had told investors on the August 6, 2026 earnings call that “we’re confident this transaction will close.” That quarter, GAAP EPS of $0.06 beat a consensus loss of -$0.10. Revenue of $8.72B fell short of the $9.21B estimate, while streaming adjusted EBITDA reached $512M.

Acquirer Shareholders Are Footing the Bill Acquirer shareholders have done worse. Paramount Skydance closed at $9.78. That leaves it down 47.85% over one year and 25.98% year to date. Over the same month that lifted WBD, Paramount Skydance fell 9.58%, including a 4.91% drop over the past week.

Bloomberg media reporter Hannah Miller laid out on Bloomberg Businessweek what the combined company gets: “There’s a massive pile of debt that’s being taken on here.” The open question, she said, is how Ellison balances paying it down with investing in new content and new technology. Ellison is targeting $6 billion in cost efficiencies, a goal that has raised concerns among employees about job losses.

Warner Bros. Discovery brings a heavy balance sheet into the merger. As of its most recent quarter, it reported $33.1B in gross debt, $29.7B in net debt and net leverage of 3.4x. Cash and equivalents fell to $3.37B, and first-half cash flow absorbed a $2.8B termination fee paid to Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) under the Paramount Skydance deal terms.

Then comes the film quota. Under the settlement, the company must release 30 theatrical films every year, and Miller noted there is a financial penalty if it fails to meet that goal. For scale, Warner Bros. said it was making 14 films this year, ramping to 19 next year. Analysts are split. Some see the target as realistic given Ellison’s stated ambitions, while others call it a “tough goal” for a struggling Hollywood that risks giving up quality for quantity.

Jim Cramer delivered a similar warning on CNBC, saying Skydance faces a difficult path with heavy debt and a challenged media industry. He pointed to leverage, restructuring and weak stock performance.

Key Tests for Skydance in the Coming Months Keep an eye on the combined company’s first financial reports for debt reduction targets and progress toward the $6 billion efficiency goal. The next major content moment is the Harry Potter series, which premieres on HBO Max on Christmas Day 2026. The 30-film commitment begins testing the balance sheet right away.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

This is CNBC's Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox.

Happy Tuesday. If you have a sweet tooth, you may need to prepare for sticker shock as cocoa prices begin climbing again.

Stock futures are higher this morning following a winning session on Wall Street.

Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

1. The finaleAfter multiple rejected takeover bids, a dramatic bidding war and a settled antitrust lawsuit, Paramount Skydance's $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery is expected to close today. Once the deal is finalized, the combined media giant will be known as Skydance and trade under the ticker symbol "SKYD."

Here's what to know:

The closure of the deal — through which Paramount will acquire all of WBD, including its cable TV networks, streaming service and film studio — comes just over a year after the David Ellison-run company set its sights on the Hollywood institution.Ellison last week announced that Mattel's Ynon Kreiz will become co-CEO of the soon-to-be-combined entertainment company. As CNBC's Sarah Whitten writes, Kreiz has roots in entertainment and a reputation as a turnaround man.The pair then announced the Skydance leadership team, which notably keeps Bari Weiss and Mark Thompson in their top roles at CBS News and CNN, respectively.Sources told CNBC's Alex Sherman that Luis Silberwasser, chairman and CEO of TNT Sports, will depart the combined firm. 2. Return to orbit3. AI under oathSenior leaders from some of Silicon Valley's largest AI companies testified in a New York City Council hearing yesterday about AI and their safety plans. Alice Friend, Google's director of AI and emerging tech policy, said she backed a "comprehensive" federal framework to address the concerns around AI safety.

The executives weren't the only ones to testify: Former AI researchers who've warned of the technology's risks also addressed the council. Alex Turner, a former Google DeepMind researcher, cautioned that "misaligned" AI could be more dangerous than competition from China, saying that "we are racing to build and grow our own adversary here at home." Anthropic whistleblower Jacob Coxon called the tech industry's approach to development "extremely reckless."

4. Bet the HouseRep. Don Davis is trying to ban candidates for federal office from trading on prediction market contracts tied to their own races. The North Carolina Democrat's "No Betting on Your Own Race Act," which was introduced yesterday, would slap violators with a fine of either $10,000 or three times the net financial gain of the trade.

Prediction market platforms have already tried to stop candidates from betting on their own races due to insider trading concerns. Notably, Davis' Republican opponent this November, Laurie Buckhout, settled with prediction market platform Kalshi in August after it found she traded on contracts related to her candidacy.

Elsewhere in politics, crypto's biggest political spending network made its first major push into House midterm races on Monday. Fairshake and its affiliated super PACs announced they will support 19 Republicans and 13 Democrats in November, looking to maintain a pro-crypto coalition in Congress.

5. Away gamesWomen's sports are taking off. One bar in Portland, Oregon, is ready to capitalize.

The Sports Bra, which exclusively airs women's sports, has brought in more than $1 million annually since it opened in 2022. Owner Jenny Nguyen launched a crowdfunding effort earlier this year to move to a larger space and create a franchise model. Her campaign has raised more than $1 million in about two months.

As CNBC's Tom Huddleston Jr. writes, Nguyen is hoping to open as many as 40 franchise locations by 2030. She said The Sports Bra already has franchisees lined up in five cities: Boston, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Portland, Maine.

The Daily DividendGeneral Motors went all-in on fully electric vehicles. Now, as hybrids become more and more popular, GM's Mike Anderson made it clear the automaker plans to listen to customer demand.

We’re not tone deaf to our customers. We know what they want and we want to give that to them as quickly as we can.

Mike Anderson

Vice president of propulsion engineering, GM

— CNBC's Catriona Marangi, Alex Sherman, Lillian Rizzo, Laya Neelakandan, Maggie Roth, Liz Napolitano, Lora Kolodny, Anniek Bao, Ashley Capoot, Samantha Subin, Davis Giangiulio, Luke Fountain, Tom Huddleston Jr. and Michael Wayland contributed to this report.

Caleigh Keating assisted in the production of this newsletter. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.

The long-gestating merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery officially closed Tuesday, yielding a new major player in media.

Shares in the combined company, Skydance, will start trading later in the day on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery have been discontinued on the Nasdaq.

The closing brings to an end a year-long saga over who would control two century-old movie studios along with a pedigreed stable of TV studios, streaming services and networks including HBO and CNN. Now, attention will turn to the difficult economics faced by the new company. It starts off with some $80 billion in debt and an ambitious plan to convert a traditional media company into a tech-oriented operation capable of measuring up to Netflix, Amazon and Disney.

Larry Ellison, the billionaire co-founder of Oracle, is a key backer of Skydance. His son, David Ellison, an actor-turned-producer who has made a dramatic entrance to the Hollywood corporate scene at just 43 years old, is running the company as chairman and CEO.

“Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry,” David Ellison said in a statement. “From the start, our ambition was to bring these two storied studios together and create a stronger competitor, with the talent, resources, and reach to tell great stories in every genre, on every platform, for audiences everywhere. Now that ambition is a reality. We’re grateful to everyone who made this possible – the employees, creative talent, and production teams of both companies, who worked tirelessly to get us here and inspire audiences around the world every day, as well as the advisors and partners who guided this transaction to completion. Our focus now turns to the future: building a company that empowers creatives, entertains audiences and rewards shareholders. We couldn’t be more excited to get to work.”

Gerry Cardinale, a Skydance board member and key financier via his firm, RedBird Capital, called the merger close “a defining moment for the industry. By applying our owner-operator model to Paramount and WBD’s unmatched portfolio of iconic franchises, premium original programming, and live sports rights, we can protect that legacy while building for a media landscape that’s undergoing transformational change.”

The merger was set in motion about a year ago when Paramount, soon after combining with the previous incarnation of Skydance, made an unsolicited offer to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. The overture was rebuffed multiple times, and it took more than a dozen attempts for the board of WBD to finally warm up to the deal. Along the way, a bid was accepted from Netflix to acquire just the streaming and studio side of the company. Ultimately, that proposal fell by the wayside when Paramount made its sweetened pitch to buy all of WBD.

The transaction sailed through regulatory approval, only to hit a major road block in July when the attorneys general of 12 states filed a lawsuit seeking to block the deal on antitrust grounds. The Writers Guild of America filed a similar suit. Thousands of actors, writers, producers and others in the creative community signed a petition opposing the deal. It will likely remain a talking point, especially for high-profile opponents like Mark Ruffalo, who stars in HBO series Task.

L-R: California AG Rob Bonta, New York AG Leticia James and David Ellison Initially, it appeared that legal and industry objections could have a chance to derail the combination, or at least result in a shrinking of its scale. In the end, though, the AGs agreed to settle the lawsuit with only so-called “behavioral remedies” required under a 5-year consent decree. Skydance agreed to negotiate pay-TV deals for Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery as though they were still separate companies as well as supplying a minimum number of theatrical movie releases, among other concessions.

Ties between the Ellisons and President Donald Trump have long been scrutinized over the course of the year-long quest for WBD by Paramount, as well as Skydance’s $8.4 billion purchase of Paramount in 2025.

While Skydance has steadfastly denied it has gone out of its way to appease Trump, critics have questioned the motives behind a series of moves by David Ellison and his senior leadership team. The company, which acquired rights to the UFC mixed-martial-arts circuit last year, broadcast a live match from the White House lawn over the summer. It also acquired the Free Press, a right-leaning digital news outlet, and installed its co-founder, Bari Weiss, as editor-in-chief of CBS News despite her lack of TV experience. Paramount, during the lead-up to the deal, hosted Trump during the White House Correspondents Dinner, and Ellison also paid a visit to his compound in Mar-a-Lago.

Democratic members of Congress have voiced concerns about the future of CNN, though the consent decree agreed to with the state AGs calls for an editorial oversight board to be installed.

One group of shareholders walks away with cash at closing. The other inherits a renamed company on a new exchange carrying roughly $80 billion in debt, and the settlement terms make the usual escape routes unavailable.

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Paramount Skydance (NASDAQ:PSKY | PSKY Price Prediction) is set to close its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) on October 6, 2026, and the two groups of shareholders come out of it in very different places. Warner Bros. Discovery holders get cash.

Paramount Skydance holders keep their shares in a company that is being renamed, moved to a new exchange, and loaded with debt. The deal is valued at $110 billion, according to Pomegra.

Paramount Skydance closed at $9.78 on October 5, up 2.89% for the session. Even so, it is down 47.85% over the past year and 25.98% since the start of 2026.

What Each Group of Shareholders Gets Warner Bros. Discovery says its shareholders receive $31.00 per share in cash, or about $31.02 with accrued daily payments through closing. In taxable accounts, this counts as a sale.

The parent company becomes Skydance Corporation, with shares moving from Nasdaq to the NYSE, so PSKY becomes SKYD. Shareholders holding at the close on October 5, 2026 receive warrants to buy additional shares at a set price before a set date. The Ellison family and RedBird are excluded from the warrant distribution.

Both studio brands keep their names. David Ellison is the chief executive. He said, “We never wanted a new corporate identity to diminish, alter or overshadow either one.” Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) takes Warner’s place in the Nasdaq-100 index.

Why the Debt Matters Most To pay for the deal, Paramount Skydance priced $41.4 billion of bonds and took out an $8.5 billion term loan. It expects the combined company to owe about $80 billion.

S&P Global Ratings assigned a BB rating, below investment grade, with expected leverage of 7.6 times through 2027. At that level, most free cash goes to lenders. Interest must be paid in full before any money returns to content production.

Paramount Skydance targets more than $6 billion in cost savings through job cuts. Combining Harry Potter and DC with Star Trek and CBS increases bargaining power with cable distributors, talent agencies, and sports leagues.

Settlement Rules Most Investors Have Missed A settlement with 12 states that a judge approved on September 30 requires the company to release at least 30 films a year in theaters. Each film must play in theaters for at least 45 days before it can go to streaming, and the company pays a $30 million penalty for each film it falls short. Those rules take away the move a company this indebted would normally make, which is quietly transferring money from theatrical releases to streaming.

Larry Ellison pledged about 36% of his Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) shares as collateral for financing. If Oracle’s stock falls sharply, lenders can demand more collateral or sell the shares.

What the Debt Load Means for SKYD Shareholders The outlook for SKYD shareholders depends mainly on debt, since the film library matters less than what lenders are owed. Shareholders only get what is left after lenders are paid, and lenders here are owed about $80 billion.

Analyst ratings break down to nine holds and nine sells or strong sells, with an average price target of $9.92, just above current levels.

Warner shareholders receiving cash face no pressure to reinvest in SKYD, as they avoid the debt risk in exchange for giving up a share of the combined film library.

Watch the first earnings report after closing. Those concerns will likely persist. Without a clear path from management to bring leverage below S&P’s 2027 projection, the balance sheet worries remain.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

Paramount announced on Tuesday that it has completed its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery to create a combined company called Skydance.

The deal, which is one of the biggest mergers of all time, brings together two major streaming platforms, Paramount+ and HBO Max, along with networks including CBS, CNN, MTV, TBS, Comedy Central, and Food Network. Skydance will also gain control of major franchises such as “The Lord of the Rings,” “Game of Thrones,” the DC Universe, and “Yellowstone.”

The merger puts one of the world’s largest entertainment studios under the control of David Ellison. Just last year, Ellison completed his merger of Skydance Media with Paramount, and is rapidly increasing his influence in Hollywood.

The Ellison family is Skydance’s largest shareholder, backed by the billions of Larry Ellison, David Ellison’s father and co-founder of Oracle.

The completion of the deal comes after settlements with a coalition of U.S. states and a Hollywood writers’ union cleared the main legal hurdles facing the merger.

Paramount announced in February that it would acquire Warner Bros. following a bidding battle with Netflix, which had previously reached an agreement to purchase Warner Bros.’ film and television studios and streaming business, excluding its cable networks.

Paramount had sweetened its bid by promising shareholders additional cash if the deal failed to close by a specified deadline and agreeing to cover the breakup fee Warner Bros. would owe Netflix for ending its existing agreement.

“Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry,” Ellison said in a statement. “From the start, our ambition was to bring these two storied studios together and create a stronger competitor, with the talent, resources, and reach to tell great stories in every genre, on every platform, for audiences everywhere. Our focus now turns to the future: building a company that empowers creatives, entertains audiences and rewards shareholders. We couldn’t be more excited to get to work.”

The new combined Skydance corporation will have annual revenue of nearly $70 billion, the company says.

Skydance Class B shares will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange today under the ticker symbol “SKYD.”

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

Aisha is a consumer news reporter at TechCrunch. Prior to joining the publication in 2021, she was a telecom reporter at MobileSyrup. Aisha holds an honours bachelor’s degree from University of Toronto and a master’s degree in journalism from Western University.

You can contact or verify outreach from Aisha by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at aisha_malik.01 on Signal.

watch now

Luis Silberwasser, chairman and CEO of TNT Sports, is departing the soon-to-be merged Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, according to people familiar with the matter.

Silberwasser informed his team of the news Monday in an e-mailed note, said the people, who asked not to be named because the communication was private.

"I am writing to let you know that, with the closing of the Paramount–WBD merger, I will be departing the company as TNT Sports and CBS Sports come together under new leadership," Silberwasser said in his note.

David Berson, president and chief executive officer of CBS Sports, will lead a newly formed global sports group that will oversee all networks, platforms and territories. The CBS Sports, TNT Sports and WBD Sports brands will roll up into the new group.

Sources familiar with the matter say Skydance is expected to make a formal announcement about Berson's move soon.

The combined company, which last week announced it will be named Skydance, will own a large swath of sports rights, including NFL Sunday afternoon games, all of March Madness, college football, NHL, NASCAR, the French Open, The Masters, and many others.

The Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery merger is expected to close tomorrow, Oct. 6.

This story is developing.

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The media business getting ready to merge with Warner Bros. is Paramount Skydance Corp. (PSKY, Financials). Discovery launched a $52 billion debt issue, which increases the cost of closing the deal but provides funding for the acquisition.

Investment-grade and junk-rated bonds with interest rates as high as 9.1% that matured between 2028 and 2066 were included in the sale.

The cost of timing was high. According to the research, if Paramount had taken out a loan several months earlier, when Treasury rates were around one percentage point lower, it could have saved about $400 million a year in interest. Despite Paramount hedging some rate exposure, the deal was delayed due to a court dispute.

Despite this, there was a significant interest among investors. Apollo Global Management, Pimco, and hundreds of other organizations allegedly placed orders totaling over $150 billion.

Despite the scale of the funding, that demand demonstrates that Paramount could still tap deep credit markets. A larger interest cost that can limit future cash flow is the trade-off.

This makes integration even more crucial for shareholders. Because more money will be spent on debt payment, management will now have less leeway for poor profitability or postponed cost cuts.

The Warner Bros. merger's ability to produce sufficient profits and savings to support a financing package that is significantly more costly due to rising interest rates will be the next test.

Check the Warning Signs for

PSKY

now!

The media company paid through the nose for its record-setting bond deal. Other corporate issuers will too.

On a day where Nvidia (NVDA) hit new all-time highs, Broadcom (AVGO) lined up a $60 billion AI chip financing deal. Meanwhile, a name has been decided on the company name that will form once Paramount Skydance (PSKY) and Warner Bros.

In Brief

Posted:

Image Credits:Jose A. Bernat Bacete (opens in a new window) / Getty Images Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery will operate as Skydance once their merger closes, Paramount CEO David Ellison announced Friday. Skydance is the name of Ellison’s original film production company.

The roughly $110 billion deal is expected to close October 6. It will combine two major Hollywood studios, Paramount+ and HBO Max, and networks including CBS, CNN, MTV, TBS, Comedy Central, and Food Network. Skydance will also control franchises such as “The Lord of the Rings,” “Game of Thrones,” the DC Universe, and “Yellowstone.”

The merger followed a drawn-out corporate battle. Netflix had agreed to acquire Warner Bros.’ streaming and studio businesses before the broader Paramount deal moved forward. Twelve states challenged the deal, arguing it could reduce competition and harm consumers and workers, but a judge approved a settlement with the state attorneys general this week.

Ellison said the Paramount and Warner Bros. brands will remain central. “We never wanted a new corporate identity to diminish, alter or overshadow either one,” he wrote on X. The new name, he said, gives the company “an identity of its own” while letting both studios “remain in the spotlight.”

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