Paramount completes purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery for $110 billion

After the merger, the shares of the new company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SKYD. The leaders of the merged structure were Paramount CEO David Ellison and former Mattel head Ynon Kreiz, while former Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav left his post.

The Skydance composition includes film studios Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., streaming services Paramount+, HBO Max and Pluto TV, as well as TV channels CNN, CBS, Nickelodeon, MTV and other resources. The company has control over such franchises as "Harry Potter", "Mission: Impossible", the DC universe and "The Lord of the Rings". The new structure's annual revenue is estimated at around $70 billion, and the total subscriber base of its streaming services exceeds 200 million.

To complete the deal, the companies had to settle antitrust claims from US states: Skydance undertook to release at least 30 films in theatrical distribution annually. At the same time, the conglomerate's total debt after the merger was around $80 billion (according to Fitch's estimate - $82 billion). Within three years, Skydance management plans to reduce annual expenses by $6 billion.