Home · Entertainment · Oct 6 archive

Hollywood Mega Merger Creates Skydance

7:14 PM ETConfirmed

Entertainment Desk

In Short: Ellison stated, '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.

CEO David Ellison announced Tuesday that Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery would merge into Skydance, a new media conglomerate.

Ellison stated, '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.'

The merger, valued at $110 billion, combines two legendary film studios, both over 100 years old, and their streaming services, Paramount+ and HBO Max.

Ellison's vision includes a library of 15,000 films, including 'Harry Potter,' 'DC Universe,' 'Mission Impossible,' 'Top Gun,' and 'The Godfather,' along with popular TV shows like 'Ted Lasso' and 'The Daily Show.'

The deal also consolidates two major news outlets, CNN and CBS News, under Ellison's control.

Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, who headed Warner Bros., will not be part of the new leadership team.

Attorney Jessica Gonzalez of the nonprofit Free Press expressed concern, stating, 'We're concerned about what the Ellisons have already done since taking over Paramount and CBS. They are willing to use their money and power to censor the news.'

Twelve states and the Writers Guild of America had sued to block the merger, arguing it would give Paramount too much power over movie distribution.

Paramount denied these claims, asserting the deal would improve competition and benefit consumers.

Ellison emphasized, 'We have big goals for Skydance, and we intend to pursue them with passion, imagination, and a willingness to take smart risks.'

What this adds

Background

What's confirmed

• Updated October 6, 2026 at 10:28 AM CDT LOS ANGELES — A new era in Hollywood is set to begin with a new media conglomerate called Skydance.
• CEO and Chairman David Ellison's long-anticipated — and long-feared — deal to consolidate Paramount-Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery was announced Tuesday.
• 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."
• "Paramount and Warner Bros. shaped over a century of culture. By combining them, we aren't rewriting history — we're equipping these iconic studios with a more powerful engine," Ellison wrote in a post on X last week, with a video unveiling Skydance.
• "What was peak is now just the beginning," the video announcer said.
• "This deal is basically, it's pro-competitive, pro-consumer, it's good for the overall creative economy," Ellison told CNBC in March, after having outbid Netflix.
• "We're concerned about the Ellison's corrupting CNN," attorney Jessica Gonzalez told NPR.
• She's co-CEO of the nonprofit media advocacy organization Free Press, which helped organize the Block the Merger Coalition. (That's not to be confused with the media company Free Press, founded by Bari Weiss, the head of CBS News.) "We're concerned about what the Ellisons have already done since taking over Paramount and CBS. They are willing to use their money and power to censor the news, to tear down stories that they or the president don't like," Gonzalez said.
• The company, Skydance, combines two legendary film studios, both more than 100 years old: Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros.
• Ellison also now controls the two companies' streaming services, including Paramount+ and HBO Max.
• "We now have a library of 15,000 films, everything from Harry Potter, the DC Universe, Mission Impossible, Top Gun, and The Godfather under one roof." Among the television shows Skydance gets to distribute are Ted Lasso, The Daily Show, the Star Trek franchise, and all those Looney Tunes cartoons.
• But Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, the duo that headed Warner Bros.

What's still developing

• Ellison framed the move as a way to avoid degrading the status of either Paramount or Warner Bros., iconic movie studios that rose during Hollywood's golden era.
• "Together, we are Skydance: a creative-first home for bold, quality storytelling." What once was the peak, is now just the beginning.
• Together, we are Skydance: a creative-first home for… pic.twitter.com/uInLRY3IrE Paramount settled two lawsuits last week, effectively paving the way for its blockbuster deal to acquire Warner Bros.
• When the merger is complete, Ellison — along with his father Larry, the Oracle billionaire whose fortune backstopped the deal — will oversee a host of major media assets, including two movie studios, HBO, Paramount+, and TV networks such as CBS, CNN, and dozens more.

Sources

• KASUlink
• Businessinsiderlink
• WarpBeat — background on Skydance Execs Praise Staff, Outline Priorities After Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger link
• WarpBeat — background on Ellison Announces Skydance Leadership Team Post-Warner Bros. Discovery Merger link
• Wikipedia — background on Warner Bros. link
• Forbes Breaking News — video link