Every signal in this story, with the reporting each one was drafted from.
TechCrunch’s Lauren Forristal recaps how Paramount beat Netflix’s $82.7 billion bid with a $111 billion offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, surviving a 12-state antitrust lawsuit and a judge’s pause before closing on October 6.
The Verge’s Nilay Patel interviews Business Insider’s Peter Kafka on Decoder about Skydance’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, which officially closed the day they spoke, with Kafka arguing David Ellison lacks a defined business strategy but has decades of his father’s money to keep trying.
Oct 12The Ankler’s Alison Brower reports that Casey Bloys is opening HBO’s checkbook with a new deal even as David Ellison’s $80 billion debt spooks Wall Street, while new film chiefs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein inherit an impossible movie math problem.
Oct 10Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva reports that Skydance TV will be co-chaired by Paramount’s George Cheeks, now Chief Content Officer, and WBD’s JB Perrette, who becomes Chief Business Officer spanning ad sales, distribution and content sales.
Oct 10TheWrap’s Jon Lafayette reports that Wall Street analysts remain skeptical of the newly closed Skydance-Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal, citing roughly $80 billion in debt and a history of failed media mergers, even as the company touts over $30 billion in planned content spending.
Oct 10The Ankler’s Lesley Goldberg reports that David Ellison chose Casey Bloys over Cindy Holland to run Skydance’s combined streaming business, a decision that left some Paramount employees in tears.
Oct 10TheWrap’s Kayla Cobb reports that Skydance now owns nearly 190 shows, more than 70 cable channels and two major streamers after closing its Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery acquisitions.
Oct 10Puck’s Matthew Belloni reports that Skydance co-CEOs David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz have avoided specifics on combining Paramount and Warner Bros. operations, prompting him to answer the creative community’s most pressing questions about how the merged studio will actually function.
Oct 10The Ankler reports that David Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz opened the Paramount lot to pitch Skydance as a studio that will outspend Netflix and Disney, producing roughly 190 series and 30 movies a year.
Oct 10Deadline’s Jill Goldsmith reports that Skydance co-CEOs David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz pushed back on fears that nearly $80 billion in debt will force cuts to content spending, pointing to plans for $30 billion-$40 billion in annual production budgets.
Oct 10TVREV’s Tim Hanlon reports that Skydance, carrying roughly $80 billion in net debt after closing the Warner Bros. Discovery deal, is positioned to become a net seller of CBS’s local stations while protecting major-market O&Os and profitable duopolies like Los Angeles’s KCBS-KCAL.
Oct 8The Ankler’s Sean McNulty reports that Skydance’s bonds slumped after last week’s $41 billion merger-debt offering, triggering a trader sell-off this week that has since partly rebounded.
Oct 8Deadline’s Jill Goldsmith reports that Skydance CEO David Ellison told CNBC the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger fixes Hollywood’s failure to pivot when big tech entered media a decade ago.
Oct 8Puck’s William D. Cohan reports that Paramount Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery has closed for $111 billion, plus roughly $3 billion more in legal costs, M&A fees and a Netflix breakup fee, with the combined company now named Skydance.
Oct 8The Ankler’s Matthew Frank reports that Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, 14 months into running Paramount, now also control Warner Bros., overseeing nine labels, three animation divisions and more than 30 films a year under a mandate to cut deeply amid Skydance’s debt load.
Oct 8TheWrap reports that Skydance co-CEOs David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz used their first press event since closing the $110 billion Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger to pledge over $30 billion in content spend, keep two separate film slates, and merge Paramount+ and HBO Max only gradually.
Oct 8Deadline’s Jill Goldsmith reports that Skydance stock closed down 6.8% Wednesday, a second straight losing session after the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger closed, with analysts calling the stock a “show me story.”
Oct 8Simon Owens’s Media Newsletter argues that Skydance faces a logistical mess in combining Paramount+ and HBO Max, since tens of millions of logins run through third parties like Amazon Prime that don’t share billing data.
Oct 8The Hollywood Reporter’s Tony Maglio reports that Skydance CEO David Ellison said long term he plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into one service, with bundling available in the relatively short term.
Oct 8The Ankler’s Lesley Goldberg reports agency sources say Casey Bloys’ HBO team has been unusually aggressive in the first 48 hours after the Skydance-Paramount-WBD merger closed, even as Ellison must still find six billion dollars in promised synergies.
Oct 8Deadline’s Jill Goldsmith reports that Fitch downgraded Skydance’s credit rating, citing “significant execution and integration risks” and leverage of 7.8 times earnings after the $110 billion Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger closed, following a similar S&P Global cut in late September.
Oct 8The Ankler’s Erik Barmack reports that David Ellison told a March finance conference AI could let Paramount make 15 to 20 versions of a film, test audience reaction, then pick the winner, with Skydance carrying $80 billion in debt.
Oct 7Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva reports that David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz held their first press conference as Skydance co-CEOs, dividing responsibilities between creative strategy and day-to-day operations.
Oct 7MediaPost’s Wayne Friedman reports that Skydance launches with a leading 21% share of U.S.
Oct 7The Hollywood Reporter’s Aaron Couch reports that David Ellison, fresh off closing the $110 billion Warner Bros. Discovery deal, said Skydance will outspend Disney and Netflix on content and still back original films like Sinners despite $80 billion in debt.
Oct 7