The $110 billion deal has created a new Hollywood giant called Skydance, combining some of the biggest names in film, television and news.
Batman, SpongeBob, Harry Potter and Star Trek now share the same owner. After nearly a year of bidding wars, lawsuits and regulatory battles, Paramount Skydance has completed its $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, creating one of the largest entertainment companies in the world.
The deal closed on Tuesday, October 6. The combined company is called Skydance and is led by chief executive David Ellison. Its shares moved from the Nasdaq to the New York Stock Exchange on the same day, trading under the ticker SKYD.
The merger is one of the largest in media history. It brings together two companies that each trace their roots back more than a century, along with a vast catalog of films, television shows, news networks and streaming platforms.
Gerry Cardinale, a Skydance board member and key financier through his firm RedBird Capital, described the closing as “a defining moment for the industry.”
Skydance Brands List, From DC Studios and HBO Max to CBS and Paramount+
The merger places a long list of famous names under a single company. From the Warner Bros. Discovery side come the Warner Bros. film and television studios, DC Studios, HBO, HBO Max, CNN, Cartoon Network and Discovery’s networks.
Paramount brings Paramount Pictures, CBS, Nickelodeon, MTV and the Paramount+ streaming service. Together, the company now controls some of the most recognizable franchises in entertainment, from DC superheroes and Harry Potter to Mission Impossible, Star Trek and SpongeBob SquarePants.
Skydance has said its streaming services will be combined into a single service over time, bringing HBO Max and Paramount+ together. The company has also committed to producing at least 30 theatrical films a year, and plans to specialize its Paramount and Warner Bros. studio lots, with each focusing on either film or television and streaming.
Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery Merger Timeline, From Netflix Bidding War to Supreme Court
The road to the deal was long. Warner Bros. Discovery put itself up for auction in October 2025 after receiving unsolicited offers, and in December 2025 it agreed a deal with Netflix that would have sold its studios and streaming business.
Paramount, which had itself merged with Skydance earlier, kept pushing for the whole company. On February 27, 2026, the two sides signed a definitive merger agreement under which Paramount would pay $31 per share in cash for all outstanding Warner Bros. Discovery shares, ending the bidding war with Netflix.
The deal then faced opposition. A coalition of US states challenged the merger, and objections were raised within the entertainment industry. Settlements with the states and a Hollywood writers union eventually cleared the main legal hurdles, with the states agreeing to behavioral conditions rather than forcing the company to sell off major assets.
A final, last-minute attempt to stop the merger came on Monday, when four petitioners asked the US Supreme Court to block it. Justice Elena Kagan denied the request, clearing the way for the deal to close the following day.
The combined company now holds a major share of the global film, television and streaming market, as Hollywood continues to consolidate in response to competition from streaming giants and changing viewing habits.
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