Paramount has completed its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. The combined company will operate under the name Skydance and represents a value of approximately 111 billion dollars, including the debt acquired.
The completion brings months of negotiations and legal objections to an end. According to company information, Paramount paid 31.01666668 dollars per Warner Bros. Discovery share. Warner Bros. Discovery shares have disappeared from the Nasdaq; Skydance will trade under a new ticker from Tuesday.
The new group brings together two film studios, two streaming services and a large package of television and sports rights. Its assets include Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., CBS, CNN, HBO, Paramount+ and HBO Max, as well as cable channels and extensive film and series catalogues.
Paramount describes the transaction as a way to build scale in a market where streaming services bear high production costs and traditional television revenues are declining. The company says it is aiming for at least 6 billion dollars in annual synergies within three years of the deal.
That scale also brings risks. The takeover has been financed largely with debt and could lead to departments being merged, duplicate roles being cut and a fresh determination of which films and series appear in cinemas or on streaming services.
The deal has been approved by competition authorities in almost seventy jurisdictions. In the United States, several states had tried to block the takeover. A judge approved a settlement last week, removing the final major legal obstacle to completion.
Viewers will not immediately get a single catalogue. In the coming months, decisions about bundling, distribution, prices, exclusive rights and production will largely determine what the merger means in practice. The new combination is larger, but must still show that this scale is financially sustainable.