Two of Hollywood’s oldest studios are now joined amid excitement, concern – and a settled California State Lawsuit.
David Ellison announced Friday morning on X that the combined Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery will be called Skydance once the $110 billion merger closes, set for Tuesday, Oct. 6. The new company will trade under the ticker SKYD.
Hollywood Giants – Pilars Of The Film Industry Going Back To 1912
“What once was the peak, is now just the beginning,” Ellison wrote. “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. Together, we are Skydance: a creative-first home for bold, quality storytelling.”
Skydance is the production company Ellison founded in 2006, the outfit behind Top Gun: Maverick and the recent Mission: Impossible films. He used it to take over Paramount in August 2025. Now that name sits on top of the whole pile, while the Paramount and Warner Bros. names stay on the movies. “We never wanted a new corporate identity to diminish, alter or overshadow either one,” Ellison wrote.
The Quick Rundown
Netflix had a deal last December to buy Warner Bros.’ studio and streaming businesses. Paramount came back with an all-cash offer for the entire company at $31 a share, Netflix declined to match, and the boards signed in late February. The Justice Department cleared the deal in June. Twelve state attorneys general, including California’s, sued in July to block it, then settled last month.
What Is Now Under One Roof
Movie studios: Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., DC Studios and Miramax.
Streaming: Paramount+, HBO Max and Pluto TV.
Broadcast and cable: CBS, CNN, HBO, Showtime, Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, Comedy Central, TNT, TBS, Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC and Investigation Discovery.
Franchises: Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Superman and Batman, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, Top Gun, The Godfather and SpongeBob SquarePants.
Sports: CBS Sports and TNT Sports together, covering NFL, March Madness, MLB, NHL, NASCAR and college football.
What Changes on Your Screen
Paramount+ and HBO Max will be folded into a single streaming service. Ellison said in March the two already total a little over 200 million subscribers.
Not yet announced: the new service’s name, its price, or when the switch happens. Ellison has said HBO “should stay HBO,” likely as a branded section inside the larger app. HBO chief Casey Bloys is expected to oversee the combined streaming content; Paramount streaming chief Cindy Holland is leaving. For now, both apps work as they do today.
Then, There’s The Shake-Up – It Already Started
Ellison will be chairman and CEO, with former Mattel chief Ynon Kreiz as co-CEO running day-to-day operations. Warner Bros. film chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy are out, according to multiple trade reports. The full leadership team could be named as soon as Monday.
Does This Really Mean More Production In LA & Southern California Or Layoffs?
This is where the merger hits close to home. Thousands of San Gabriel Valley and greater LA residents work at, or for vendors serving, the Paramount lot in Hollywood and the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank.
The company has promised investors more than $6 billion in savings. Paramount board member Gerry Cardinale, a chief architect of the deal, said this week most of that will come from technology, real estate and other non-labor costs, not layoffs.
Outside numbers are less comforting:
Los Angeles County identified about 2,495 overlapping corporate positions exposed to consolidation, while stressing that is not a layoff forecast.
A CVL Economics analysis estimated roughly 4,500 direct film and TV jobs in LA County could be lost over three years.
Side note: CVL Economics is an economic research firm based in Los Angeles. It’s known for its studies of the entertainment industry, including a 2024 report on how AI could affect Hollywood jobs, which the Animation Guild and other industry groups commissioned.
After Skydance took over Paramount last year, it cut about 2,000 jobs, roughly 10 percent of the workforce, within months.
Trade reports say insiders on both sides expect multiple rounds of layoffs before year’s end, and CNN staffers are bracing for cuts. The company will also carry roughly $82 billion in gross debt, by LA County’s estimate, which keeps steady pressure on costs.
What the California State Lawsuit Settlement Guarantees
The settlement forces no studio or network sale, but puts these promises in writing:
• At least $300 million a year in U.S. film production for five years.
• At least 30 theatrical releases a year for two years, then 32 a year for three more, with $30 million penalties per shortfall.
• The Hollywood and Burbank lots stay in use for film and TV production.
• Union contracts honored, plus a $47.5 million, five-year retraining fund for laid-off workers.
• A new editorial independence board over CBS News and CNN.
Is This Merger A Good Thing Or Not?
Ellison is promising more movies, bolder bets and a bigger global audience. “I couldn’t be more excited about what we’re going to build together,” he wrote.
For us moviegoers, that means more films in theaters for at least five years. For us streamers, two apps become one at a price still unknown. For local families drawing a paycheck from Hollywood and Burbank, the next 12 months or so will tell the real story.
If you work at either studio and want to share your insights, contact The South Pasadenan: [email protected]
