David Ellison has finally bought Warner Bros. Discovery, remaking Hollywood

David Ellison has created Skydance by bringing together Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery. ; for CinemaCon; Paramount has bought Warner Bros. Discovery, forming a new media giant: Skydance. David Ellison has become a media mogul overseeing two major movie studios, HBO, CNN, and CBS News. Skydance will be run by Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz, who will oversee the merger integration. David Ellison has completed his purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery for $110 billion in a mega-deal that promises to reshape Hollywood. Paramount Skydance, now known as Skydance, closed its acquisition of WBD on Tuesday. The combined company now controls Paramount Pictures and the Warner Bros. studio; streaming services HBO Max, Paramount+, Pluto TV, and Discovery+; and TV networks HBO, CBS, CNN, TNT, HGTV, and The Food Network. It also has iconic IP like DC Comics, Harry Potter, and SpongeBob Squarepants. Skydance has the potential to be an entertainment behemoth that can rival Disney and Netflix in size and cultural influence. Controlling this treasure trove of assets cements Ellison as a media mogul. Skydance Media, the production company Ellison started in 2006 that was behind films like "Top Gun: Maverick," merged with Paramount last August. The new Skydance will be led by Ellison and former Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz. Ellison will be in charge of Skydance's creative and tech strategies while Kreiz, who's joining as a co-CEO, will handle the merger integration and day-to-day operations. Casey Bloys, the head of HBO, will head up the combined company's streaming strategy after Paramount streaming chief Cindy Holland stepped down. CNN CEO Mark Thompson is staying on, while Bari Weiss is heading up CBS News. The new-look Skydance faces many challenges, including a massive debt load and stiff competition in streaming. Even when combined, Paramount+ and HBO Max lack the viewership of Disney or Netflix, let alone YouTube. "It's a war for time spent, you're chasing the juggernaut in the space, which is YouTube," media analyst Rich Greenfield of Lightshed Partners said about Ellison's streaming mission. This deal's completion ends a monthslong saga that's worthy of an HBO drama. Ellison's company agreed to buy WBD in late February for $31 per share and planned to close the deal in mid-July. Paramount had outbid Netflix, which had previously agreed to pay $27.75 per share for WBD's studio and streaming division. The merger got held up by lawsuits brought by 12 US states and the Writers Guild of America. Paramount settled those lawsuits in September and pledged to make concessions, including increasing its US production spending, releasing a minimum number of movies in theaters, and not selling either of the movie lots. Ellison told Paramount employees in a memo that its deal will lead to "more opportunity for our creatives, production crews and employees across the business, and more great entertainment for audiences everywhere." Critics of the deal said that putting Paramount and WBD under one roof could harm competition in the entertainment industry, leading to fewer jobs for creatives and higher prices for consumers. Thousands of Hollywood creatives, including stars like JJ Abrams and Ben Stiller, signed an open letter opposing the deal in April. Paramount had rushed to finalize its WBD takeover since it would have owed $650 million per quarter, or roughly $7 million per day, if the deal wasn't done, starting on October 1. Inside Paramount and WBD, employees are on edge and are preparing for internal competition as the two media giants integrate. Ellison has promised to deliver $6 billion in savings from this deal, though the company has said layoffs won't account for most of the cost reductions. As for which teams and staffers will stay at the new-look Skydance, Ellison said in September after settling the lawsuits holding up the deal that he and his colleagues "don't have all the answers yet" and that he "won't pretend otherwise." Read the original article on Business Insider

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