Paramount completes $81bn takeover of Warner Bros Discovery

Skydance-owned Paramount has completed its $81bn (£61bn) takeover of Warner Bros Discovery - bringing together the two media giants under a combined company.

Paramount, the studio behind the Mission: Impossible films and Top Gun: Maverick, is now under the same roof as movie titles like Harry Potter, Barbie and The Dark Knight, news networks such as CNN and streaming service HBO Max.

The merger, one of the biggest in US media history, went through after settlements were reached with a coalition of US states and a Hollywood writers' union - removing the final legal barriers.

The new company is called Skydance and its chief executive David Ellison now controls one of the world's largest entertainment conglomerates.

Mr Ellison has named Ynon Kreiz, former chief of children's toy company Mattel, as Skydance co-chief executive to run day-to-day operations.

Mr Ellison will oversee creative direction and overall strategy.

The duo are expected to deliver $6bn (£4.5bn) in cost savings, which Paramount said would come from combining streaming technologies and cloud providers of the two companies.

It plans to combine services such as HBO Max and Paramount+.

Skydance also aims to release at least 30 films in each of the first two years after closing the deal, rising to 32 a year for the following three.

Mr Ellison's company was founded in 2010 and built a reputation as a financial backer - producing blockbuster hits such as Paramount's Top Gun: Maverick.

Skydance completed its takeover of Paramount last year and began its bidding war with Netflix for Warner Bros.

Paramount eventually increased its offer to buy all of Warner for $31 (£23) per share, and Netflix dropped out of the race.

Warner and Paramount agreed a mutual merger agreement in late February.

Two months later, thousands of movie stars, writers, directors and other professionals wrote an open letter criticising the proposed merger - warning of fewer jobs and "less choice for audiences in the United States and around the world".

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US President Donald Trump was openly critical of CNN during the takeover process and said "it's imperative that CNN be sold".

Under a settlement agreed last month with states that had sued over the takeover, the company agreed to form a "news editorial independence board''.

CNN's editor-in-chief Mark Thompson will remain in his role, and Mr Ellison has insisted that editorial independence will be maintained.

(c) Sky News 2026: Paramount completes $81bn takeover of Warner Bros Discovery