Paramount’s long road to acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery is over after Tuesday’s completion of the drawn-out ordeal.
Under its new name, Skydance, David Ellison’s acquisition of WBD for $110 billion sees all the assets of Paramount and the acquired media empire under one roof. Skydance will control three movie studios (Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., and Skydance), three streamers (Paramount+, HBO Max, and Pluto TV), and many cable outlets, including TBS, TNT & HBO.
The New York Times reported that a memo was sent out internally referring to “change” under the new structure. The memo acknowledged that “difficult decisions” would affect the workforce as major cuts are expected given the debt of $82 billion taken on by Skydance.
After battling Netflix for the right to purchase WBD, the Ellison-led group faced legal hurdles when twelve state attorneys general, led by California’s Rob Bonta, challenged the sale on antitrust grounds. A judge had set a trial to begin in March, which would be a costly undertaking with a “ticking fee” going into effect on October 1, whereby Paramount would need to pay approximately $7 million per day to WBD shareholders until the deal was closed.
A settlement was reached last month, and the judge recently approved the terms that Paramount has agreed to over the next five years.
The UFC and AEW have ongoing contractual relationships within the newly merged company. The UFC is in the first year of a seven-year pact worth $7.7 billion for its domestic rights. AEW has one year left on its linear and streaming rights deal with WBD, with the option for an additional year of programming in 2028
