Paramount Skydance’s (PSKY) $110 billion U.S. takeover of former rival Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) officially concludes on Oct. 6.
It’s taken a year of rejections, a bidding war, regulatory approvals, and an antitrust challenge, but the takeover of Warner Bros. is being finalized, creating a new entertainment giant.
The combined company will be called “Skydance” and trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol “SKYD.”
The merged company will feature two storied film studios and control nearly one-third of basic cable programming in the U.S.
Going forward, Skydance will boast a library of 15,000 films, including popular franchises such as Harry Potter, Star Trek, Mission Impossible, and The Godfather.
The new company also gains control over the DC Comics library and superhero characters that include Batman and Superman.
And, Skydance will operate two large streaming services, Paramount+ and HBO Max, as well as specialty television channels MTV, Comedy Central, and the Food Network.
Skydance also takes control of two of America’s largest news outlets: CNN and CBS News.
The merger faced a public backlash and concerns within the entertainment and media industries, with the Writers Guild of America trying unsuccessfully to block the merger.
Skydance will be led by David Ellison, the son of technology billionaire Larry Ellison, and a new co-CEO Ynon Kreiz, who was named last week and formerly led toymaker Mattel (MAT).
The acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery is being financed largely by investors in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other Middle Eastern countries.
Skydance has taken on nearly $45 billion U.S. of debt to help finance the Warner Bros. Discovery purchase, which analysts say could be an issue for the company moving forward.
Prior to Oct. 6, the stock of Paramount Skydance had declined 49% over the last 12 months to trade at $9.78 U.S. per share.
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