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Skydance Corporation is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate formed by Paramount Skydance's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The transaction closed on October 6, 2026. The company is co-headquartered in Los Angeles and New York City, with two other offices in New York City (230 Park Avenue South and 30 Hudson Yards), and major offices in Burbank, California, Santa Monica, California, and Atlanta.
The company combines the assets and libraries of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery. Its portfolio includes the company's FlagShip film studios Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, broadcast and news networks CBS and CNN, streaming video services Paramount+, Pluto TV, HBO Max, and Discovery+, children's cable networks Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, and other major cable networks like MTV, VH1, TBS, and TNT.
The company is led by David Ellison as chairman and chief executive officer, alongside Ynon Kreiz as co-chief executive officer. Ellison will oversee long-term strategy, creative direction, technology, strategic partnerships and capital allocation; while Kreiz will oversee day-to-day operations and integration of the combined businesses. The company uses the Skydance name, trademark and branding formerly associated with Ellison's Skydance Media.
History
| 1912 | Famous Players Film Company was established as a partnership between Adolph Zukor and the Frohman Brothers |
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| 1914 | Paramount Pictures was incorporated by W.W. Hodkinson as a film distributor that Famous Players and Jesse Lasky soon began releasing their films through |
| 1916 | Zukor and Lasky bought out Paramount and brought together their operations into Famous Players-Lasky, forming the first vertically integrated studio system |
| 1918 | Jack, Sam, Abe, and Harry Warner moved their film operations to California and purchased a studio lot that began housing Warner Bros. Pictures by 1923 |
| 1922 | Time Inc. was founded by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden, and at its peak, it was the largest magazine company with titles such as Time and Fortune |
| 1927 | Through the release of the Jazz Singer, Warner Bros. became a major film studio by pioneering the use of sound in film. CBS Radio News was also founded |
| 1929 | Paramount and Warner Bros. entered into a merger agreement, but the deal collapsed due to concerns over stocks and the eventual Great Depression |
| 1933 | The Depression led to Paramount becoming the first Hollywood studio to experience bankruptcy, and it reemerged through corporate restructuring |
| 1948 | The Golden Age of Hollywood ended with the U.S. Supreme Court approving the Paramount Decree ruling, which required film studios to divest their movie theaters |
| 1955 | Two years after selling its movie theaters, Warner Bros. created its television unit to reach new streams of revenue and appointed William T. Orr to oversee it |
| 1961 | Riverside Memorial and Kinney Parking were consolidated into one company called Kinney Service Corp., which later became Kinney National |
| 1966 | Gulf and Western Industries acquired Paramount Pictures and made it a subsidiary. Desilu Productions was renamed Paramount Television |
| 1967 | Seven Arts acquired Warner Bros. from Jack Warner, and the companies were merged into Warner Bros.-Seven Arts |
| 1969 | Warner Bros.-Seven Arts was acquired by Kinney National and by 1972, the company divested its non-media assets and became Warner Communications |
| 1970 | Ted Turner bought a failing UHF station in Atlanta and renamed it WTCG, with the channel's name referencing his business, Turner Communications Group |
| 1979 | Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment was formed by Warner Cable and American Express, and it launched a multitude of cable networks like MTV |
| 1980 | CNN was launched by Ted Turner as the first 24-hour news network, and its format helped spawn a new genre of television |
| 1986 | Viacom, a former CBS division and future subsidiary of National Amusements, purchased Warner-Amex, and Turner proved unsuccessful in buying CBS |
| 1989 | Paramount Communications, the successor to Gulf and Western, tried blocking the Time Warner merger, but the lawsuit failed, and the deal went through |
| 1994 | Viacom acquired Paramount, changing it from a cable company into one of the world's largest media conglomerates |
| 1995 | Westinghouse Electric acquired CBS, and Time Warner and Viacom launched The WB and UPN as rival networks to capture teen and young adult audiences |
| 1996 | Time Warner reclaimed its status as the world's largest media conglomerate after acquiring Turner Broadcasting System |
| 2000 | Viacom acquired CBS Corp, and AOL and Time Warner announced their merger in what was the largest merger during the height of the Dot-com bubble |
| 2003 | Following historic losses and failed synergies, AOL Time Warner reverted back to its old name of Time Warner and began divesting non-core businesses |
| 2005 | National Amusements separated its media holdings into the second iteration of Viacom and CBS Corporation |
| 2006 | Skydance Media was established by David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, and The WB and UPN were merged into The CW due to years of unprofitability |
| 2018 | Time Warner was acquired by AT&T and renamed to WarnerMedia, with plans to have HBO be repositioned as a streaming service called HBO Max |
| 2019 | Viacom and CBS Corporation remerged under the name ViacomCBS, and by 2021, it renamed the CBS All Access streaming service to Paramount+ |
| 2022 | Warner Bros. Discovery was formed following the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery, Inc., and ViacomCBS renamed itself Paramount Global |
| 2025 | A three-way merger between Skydance, Paramount, and National Amusements was completed, with the resulting company being Paramount Skydance |
| 2026 | After the Paramount-Warner Bros. deal received approval, the merged company renamed itself Skydance Corporation, with Paramount and Warner Bros. becoming sister studios within it |
Skydance Media was founded in 2006 by David Ellison and developed a long-running relationship with Paramount Pictures, beginning with a co-financing and production partnership in 2009. In August 2025, Skydance Media completed its merger with Paramount Global and National Amusements, creating Paramount Skydance.
Separately, WarnerMedia and Discovery, Inc. merged in April 2022 to form Warner Bros. Discovery.
Paramount Skydance subsequently agreed to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, with the combined company scheduled to adopt the Skydance name upon closing.
Acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance
After Paramount began making unsolicited offers to acquire WBD as a whole, the WBD board of directors initiated a review of strategic alternatives on October 21, 2025, aimed to maximize shareholder value which developed into a formal bidding process. The process was won in December 2025 by Netflix, which agreed to acquire Warner Bros., including its film and television studios, HBO and HBO Max, in a transaction valued at $82.7 billion. Paramount continued to make unsolicited offers for the entirety of WBD, arguing that a Netflix acquisition of Warner Bros. would give it an excessive share of the Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) market and that Paramount's proposal would provide greater support for theatrical exhibition. Paramount CEO David Ellison stated that the combined company would release 30 theatrical films annually, maintain theatrical release windows, and preserve the creative independence of divisions such as HBO.
In February 2026, Paramount revised its offer several times, ultimately proposing to acquire WBD for $31 per share in cash, fund WBD's $2.8 billion termination fee to Netflix, and pay an additional "ticking fee" to WBD shareholders if the transaction had not closed after September 30, 2026. The WBD board determined that Paramount's proposal constituted a superior offer, and the transaction was approved by WBD shareholders on April 23, 2026. On June 12, 2026, The US Department Of Justice's Antitrust Division completed its review of the acquisitions and cleared the transaction. The European Commission approved the acquisition subject to conditions requiring Paramount to withdraw from its United International Pictures distribution joint venture with Universal Pictures in Europe. Similarly in the United Kingdom, Paramount made legally binding commitments to maintain the distinct editorial identities of its linear and on-demand services, preserve the independence of Channel 5 News from CBS and CNN international, and keep children's channels including Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network editorially distinct. Most of the commitments are to remain in effect for five years.
Supporters of the acquisition argued that combining the companies would provide greater scale to compete with streaming and entertainment conglomerates like Disney and Comcast while maintaining theatrical distribution. Critics, including filmmakers, employees and lawmakers, raised concerns over increased media consolidation, reduced competition and employment, and the combined company's bargaining power.
In July 2026, California and 11 other U.S. states, along with the Writers Guild of America, filed antitrust lawsuits seeking to delay the acquisition. Paramount later reached a settlement with the states in late September, subject to a five-year consent decree containing competition and editorial safeguards. The settlement was finally approved by a federal court on September 30, clearing one of the final obstacles to the transaction, which Paramount completed on October 6.
On October 2, 2026, David Ellison announced that the combined company would be named Skydance following the completion of the Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition, reviving the Skydance name previously used by his production company Skydance Media. Paramount and Warner Bros. would retain their individual studio identities under the new parent company. Ellison would serve alongside former Mattel chief executive Ynon Kreiz as co-CEO of the combined company, with Kreiz overseeing its day-to-day operations and integration. Ahead of the merger's completion, reports also stated that Paramount Pictures co-chairs Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg were expected to lead the combined Paramount and Warner Bros. film operation, succeeding Warner Bros. film chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy.
Post-merger integration
On October 6, 2026, Skydance announced impending workforce reductions to company staff. In an internal memo, Ellison and Kreiz wrote that "integrating two companies will bring change, including difficult decisions that affect our workforce", adding that management was "committed to handling this process thoughtfully and respectfully".
Management
Board of directors
- David Ellison (Chairman)
- Barbara Byrne
- Andy Campion
- Gerry Cardinale
- Safra Catz
- Andy Gordon
- Justin G. Hamill
- Laurene Powell Jobs
- Bobby Kotick
- Ynon Kreiz
- Sherry Lansing
- Paul Marinelli
- John L. Thornton
Enterprise leadership
- David Ellison – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
- Ynon Kreiz – Co-Chief Executive Officer
Corporate leadership team
- Andy Gordon – President
- Tony Driscoll – President, Games & Experiences
- Jeff Silberman – EVP, Corporate Strategy
- Josh Silverman – President, Global Products & Publishing
- Jim Lee – President and Chief Creative Officer, DC Comics
- Jim Sterner – Chief People Officer
- Jose Turkienicz – President, Global Operations
- Dennis Cinelli – Chief Financial Officer
- Makan Delrahim – Chief Legal Officer and President, Global Corporate Affairs
- Stephanie Kyoko McKinnon – General Counsel and Secretary
- Dane Glasgow – Chief Product Officer
- Rebecca Mall – Chief Marketing Officer
- Melissa Zukerman – Chief Communications Officer
Business leadership team
- Casey Bloys – Co-Chair and Chief Content Officer, Skydance Direct-to-Consumer
- George Cheeks – Co-Chair and Chief Content Officer, Skydance TV
- Dana Goldberg – Co-Chair, Skydance Motion Picture Group
- Josh Greenstein – Co-Chair, Skydance Motion Picture Group
- JB Perrette – Co-Chair & Chief Business Officer, Skydance TV and Skydance Direct-to-Consumer
- Jay Askinasi – Chief Revenue Officer, Advertising
- David Decker – President, Content Sales
- Ray Hopkins – President, Distribution
- James Gunn – Co-Chair, DC Studios
- Peter Safran – Co-Chair, DC Studios
News leadership team
- Mark Thompson – Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, CNN Worldwide
- Bari Weiss – Editor-in-Chief, CBS News