Paramount Skydance finalized its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery this week, creating a media company led by co-CEOs David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz. The combined firm carries roughly $80 billion in debt and is targeting $6 billion in cost savings over three years, while facing court-ordered film-release quotas and scrutiny over editorial control of CBS and CNN.
Paramount Skydance finalized its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on Tuesday, bringing together two film studios, the CBS broadcast network, a pay TV portfolio that includes CNN, TNT, MTV and BET, and the streaming services Paramount+ and HBO Max. David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz now lead the combined company, named Skydance, as co-CEOs.
According to CNBC: "positioned to win in every single vertical that we operate in", Ellison said of the new company. He pointed to over 200 million global streaming subscribers across HBO Max and Paramount+, along with the Olympics internationally and a linear portfolio anchored by CBS.
Divided leadership, shared debt load
Ellison and Kreiz plan to split executive duties, with Ellison focused on creative vision, technology and long-term strategy.
Kreiz runs day-to-day integration and operations. Skydance must manage roughly $80 billion in debt from the merger and has said it is targeting $6 billion in cost savings over the next three years.
Kreiz said those savings will come from technology, marketing consolidation, real estate optimization and some labor. Ellison said the company has already unified ad sales across the platforms and is working to unify back-end tech stacks.
Court-ordered film quotas
As part of a settlement with a group of state attorneys general who sued to block the acquisition over antitrust concerns, Skydance has agreed to release at least 30 films into theaters annually in 2027 and 2028 and at least 32 films annually in 2029, 2030 and 2031. The combined entity currently has 35 films scheduled for release next year, according to data from Rentrak.
Ellison has also said he plans to merge the Paramount+ and HBO Max streaming services.
CBS and CNN under one roof
The acquisition also puts CBS and CNN under the same parent company. CNN has faced heightened scrutiny from the Trump administration in recent weeks, and David Ellison's father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, is a longtime Trump ally, which has fueled concerns about political influence over the networks' newsgathering.
Skydance's settlement with the state attorneys general included an agreement to establish a new board to oversee CBS and CNN and ensure editorial independence. Mark Thompson remains chairman and editor-in-chief of CNN Worldwide, and Bari Weiss continues as editor-in-chief of CBS News.
Kreiz said the newsrooms would keep running independently, while Ellison said questions about the news divisions were better left to Thompson and Weiss.
Source: CNBC
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