Paramount and Warner Bros wrap up mega deal to create Skydance

Paramount has completed its 110 billion US dollar (£83 billion) mammoth takeover of Warner Bros Discovery to create a new Hollywood giant called Skydance.The deal brings together two of the world’s biggest film studios, as well as streaming services and television networks including CBS, HBO Max, and sees popular titles such as Harry Potter, Top Gun and The Godfather brought under the same group.The mega merger will significantly reshape Hollywood and the wider media landscape, while in the UK, Skydance will control assets including Channel 5 and TNT Sports.The deal’s completion comes eight months after Paramount agreed to buy Warner Bros Discovery in February after triumphing over Netflix in a lengthy bidding battle.David Ellison, chairman and chief executive of Skydance, said: “Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry.”Mr Ellison, who will lead the company alongside his new co-chief executive Ynon Kreiz, said: “From the start, our ambition was to bring these two storied studios together and create a stronger competitor, with the talent, resources, and reach to tell great stories in every genre, on every platform, for audiences everywhere.“Now that ambition is a reality.”The deal’s completion comes nearly a year after streaming giant Netflix first launched its bid for Warner Bros, before losing out to rival Paramount.Netflix had originally agreed to buy Warner Bros’s studio and streaming business last December in a deal worth around 82 billion dollars (£61.8 billion) including debt.Unlike Netflix, Paramount bid to buy all of Warner Bros’s operations.Paramount, which was bought by Mr Ellison’s Skydance last year, initially launched a hostile approach, before gaining the approval of the Warner Bros board.Britain’s regulators gave the deal the green light in August, while the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said it also would not intervene, given several “legally-binding commitments” from Paramount over its footprint in the UK broadcasting and on-demand entertainment market.It was seen as an important hurdle for the firms to clear ahead of completion, but the deal had to gain approval from regulators across the world, while also settling a lawsuit lodged by Democratic attorney generals in 12 states seeking to block the merger.Read MoreTo help fund its Warner buyout, Paramount has gained billions of dollars in financial backing from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.US private equity firm Redbird Capital also provided new equity financing to Paramount for the deal.Gerry Cardinale, founder and managing partner of RedBird Capital and a Skydance director, said: “This is a defining moment for the industry.“By applying our owner-operator model to Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery’s unmatched portfolio of iconic franchises, premium original programming, and live sports rights, we can protect that legacy while building for a media landscape that’s undergoing transformational change.”