One of the largest entertainment empires in the world officially took shape this week as Skydance completed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, bringing Warner Bros., HBO, CNN and a sprawling collection of television networks, streaming services and Hollywood franchises under the same corporate roof as Paramount and CBS.
The $81 billion acquisition closed Tuesday and creates a combined company called Skydance, led by chairman and CEO David Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz. Including debt, the transaction is valued at nearly $111 billion. The combined company has more than 200 million streaming subscribers across its platforms, reaches audiences in more than 200 countries and territories and generates nearly $70 billion in annual revenue.
For viewers, one of the biggest changes will eventually come to streaming. Skydance now controls HBO Max, Paramount+, Discovery+ and Pluto TV, and the company says its direct-to-consumer streaming products will be unified into a single service over time. It has not announced a timetable, name or pricing for that eventual service, and the existing platforms will continue operating for now.
The merger also puts an extraordinary collection of entertainment properties in one company. Skydance’s portfolio now stretches from Harry Potter, Batman, Superman, Game of Thrones and The Matrix to Top Gun, Mission: Impossible, Star Trek, SpongeBob SquarePants and Transformers. Its television holdings include HBO, CBS, TNT, TBS, HGTV, Food Network, Discovery Channel, Cartoon Network, MTV, BET, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central. CBS Sports and TNT Sports are also now part of the same company.
The deal brings CNN and CBS News under the same corporate ownership, making Skydance the parent company of two of the country’s most recognizable news organizations. CNN chairman and editor-in-chief Mark Thompson is remaining in his role, while Ellison has pledged to maintain editorial independence. A News Editorial Independence Board will oversee editorial-independence commitments involving CNN and CBS News.
Skydance says the combined company plans to release at least 30 theatrical films annually, with each receiving a minimum 45-day theatrical window. Its television operation already includes more than 180 shows, giving the company an enormous pipeline of programming alongside its extensive film and television library.
The size of the new Skydance gives it reach across nearly every major corner of entertainment — movies, television, streaming, news and sports — as traditional Hollywood companies compete for audiences against technology giants and global streaming platforms. Skydance organizes the business into three major segments: Studios, Direct-to-Consumer and TV Media.
For consumers, many of the changes won’t happen immediately. HBO Max, Paramount+ and the company’s television networks will continue largely as they are for now. But with so many major entertainment brands, franchises and distribution platforms now controlled by one company, the deal has redrawn the Hollywood landscape — and what Skydance does with all of those pieces could reshape what millions of people watch and how they pay to watch it.
