Paramount Skydance has acquired Warner Bros. Discovery and launched a new structure integrating film, television and video streaming businesses under its umbrella. The new company will be called Skydance and aims to generate annual revenue of more than ¥11 trillion.
US media giant Paramount Skydance announced that it had acquired Warner Bros. Discovery, with the total value including debt reaching approximately $110 billion. Completion of the acquisition will create one of the world's leading companies in film, television and video streaming.
The new company will be called Skydance, bringing together the film and television assets of the former Paramount and former WBD groups. Annual revenue after the integration is expected to be approximately $70 billion (about ¥11 trillion). The company is expected to own approximately 15,000 films and have more than 200 million video streaming subscribers worldwide. It plans to consolidate its video streaming services in the future and compete with Netflix and other companies.
Under the new structure, CEO David Ellison will serve as chairman and CEO, while Inon Kreiz will become co-CEO. As an integration benefit, the company aims to reduce costs by more than $6 billion annually within 3 years. Reducing the financial burden from increased debt will be a challenge, with the streamlining of overlapping businesses among the issues to be addressed.
Competition in the film distribution market will change. The terms of a proposed settlement also stipulated the operation of the number of theatrical releases in the United States, while the agreements included the establishment of a committee to oversee the editorial independence of CNN and CBS News, along with other regulatory and governance measures.