Hollywood media giant Paramount Skydance has completed its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, bringing two of America’s biggest entertainment companies under one roof. The combined company will now operate, simply, as Skydance. The deal was completed on October 6 in the US, with David Ellison, who previously ran Paramount, announced as the chairman and CEO of Skydance.
The merger indicates a consolidation of some of Hollywood’s biggest IPs. Paramount owns Paramount Pictures, the Hollywood studio behind franchises such as Mission: Impossible and Top Gun. Warner Bros. Discovery, meanwhile, owns Warner Bros. Pictures and HBO, home to major franchises including Harry Potter, Batman, Superman and Game of Thrones.
The merger also brings the companies’ streaming platforms, Paramount+ and HBO Max, under the same ownership. It also includes major US television and news operations such as CBS and CNN. In simple words, Skydance will now control a much larger slice of Hollywood’s best-known film, television, streaming and news brands.
Skydance was founded in 2010 by Ellison as a film and television production company. It became closely associated with Paramount through a production partnership, backing films including Mission: Impossible and Top Gun: Maverick. In 2025, Skydance completed a merger with Paramount, creating the Paramount Skydance Corporation.
The combined company with Warner Bros. Discovery is expected to generate nearly $70 billion in annual revenue. According to reports, it is also looking to cut more than $6 billion in costs, raising concerns about job losses as Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery merge their operations.
The deal faced opposition in the US, including from several state governments and the Writers Guild of America (WGI) over concerns about competition and employment. Regulatory approval eventually cleared the way for the merger, with Skydance agreeing to certain conditions, including safeguards for the editorial independence of CNN and CBS News.
The merger marks another major consolidation in Hollywood, where traditional studios are facing rising production costs and growing competition from streaming giants.