Paramount has closed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, folding the two media companies into a new entity called Skydance on October 6, 2026. The transaction follows a September settlement with 12 state attorneys general that had sued to stop the deal, and it unites Warner's gaming titles with Paramount Games Studio. The closing also triggers leadership departures, a large payout for outgoing WBD chief David Zaslav, and new board members including Laurene Powell Jobs and Bobby Kotick.
Deal terms and company projections
According to the closing announcement reported by Gaming.net, holders of Warner Bros. Discovery stock were paid $31.01666668 in cash for each share. Trading in WBD shares ended on Nasdaq that day, while Skydance Class B shares began on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company said the merger included $47 billion in new equity for Class B common stock, priced at $12.00 per share, with investments led by the Ellison Family, RedBird Capital Partners, the Public Investment Fund, L'IMAD, the Qatar Investment Authority and LionTree. Bank of America, Citigroup and Apollo led the debt financing. Per the company, the Ellison Family owns the largest stake, and together with RedBird it holds all Class A common stock and all voting shares.
Skydance described itself as one of the world's largest media and entertainment companies, with nearly $70 billion in revenue. It is targeting more than $6 billion in run-rate synergies over three years and expects to surpass $10 billion in free cash flow by 2030. These figures are company projections, not independent estimates.
Leadership transitions and Zaslav's payout
David Zaslav has stepped down as president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery. An SEC filing cited by The Movie Blog shows he will collect $606.1 million for his shares, including restricted stock units and stock options, before capital gains and withholding taxes. The filing also noted that roughly 14.98 million of his stock options became worthless because their strike prices were above the $31.0167 per-share acquisition price.
The same report adds that Zaslav had sold almost $200 million of company shares after the deal was announced in February. Other senior executives leaving include CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels, chief revenue and strategy officer Bruce Campbell, and Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group co-chairs Pamela Abdy and Michael De Luca. The Burbank headquarters water tower was rebranded to reflect Skydance ownership.
Games assets under one company
JB Perrette, formerly CEO and President of Global Streaming and Games at Warner Bros. Discovery, was named Co-Chair and Chief Business Officer of Skydance DTC and Skydance TV. His official biography states that he oversaw a games portfolio that included Mortal Kombat and Hogwarts Legacy, and that he led the HBO Max international rollout to more than 130 markets.
Paramount formed Paramount Games Studio on June 4, 2026, consolidating Paramount and Skydance gaming studios including Skydance Interactive and Skydance New Media. Tony Driscoll became its president while remaining executive vice president of corporate strategy and development. Driscoll said at the time that games are "a core pillar of our content strategy alongside film, television and streaming." The studio's website lists TMNT: The Last Ronin, Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game and Battlefield 6: Top Gun as upcoming titles, with existing games such as Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra and The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners.
Peter Safran, co-chairman of DC Studios with James Gunn, will lead DC Universe strategy across film, television, animation, themed entertainment and gaming, according to the company.
Board additions and strategic advisor
On October 6, Skydance named its board. Laurene Powell Jobs, founder and president of Emerson Collective, and Bobby Kotick, founder and former CEO of Activision, joined as independent directors, along with Co-CEO Ynon Kreiz. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair will serve as a board advisor in a personal capacity, according to MarketScreener. David Ellison chairs the board.
The board includes existing Paramount directors plus the new additions. Powell Jobs is described by the company as a leader in philanthropy and venture capital, and Kotick's tenure at Activision included the $68.7 billion sale to Microsoft. Blair is executive chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
Regulatory settlement and independence board
The deal closed after California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a settlement on September 21 with the 12-state coalition that had sued to block the merger. As reported by CNN, Paramount agreed to release 30 theatrical films each year and to create a news editorial independence board within 180 days of closing. The board will have five established journalists, each with at least 10 years of experience, and no more than two can be affiliated with the same political party.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said he was "deeply disappointed that we could not do more" and had pushed for full divestiture of CNN and CBS News. The Writers Guild of America also settled its lawsuit, with Paramount agreeing to prohibit writer layoffs at CBS News Broadcast for five years and pay $17.5 million to its health fund plus attorneys' fees.
