The Skydance merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery closed Tuesday, and the combined company now operates under the Skydance name, directly affecting AEW’s U.S. media partner. A federal judge approved Paramount’s settlement with 12 states last week, clearing the final legal hurdle.
The Details
Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders received approximately $31.02 per share in cash as part of the transaction, according to the New York Post. The deal was valued at $81 billion by the New York Post and $110 billion by BBC Sport.
Shares of the newly formed company debuted Tuesday on the Big Board under the ticker SKYD, while Warner Bros. Discovery stock was delisted from Nasdaq the same day. David Ellison remains chairman and chief executive of the newly combined company. “Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry,” Ellison said, according to the Post.
Under one roof, the new company holds two legacy film studios, streaming platforms HBO Max and Paramount+, news divisions CNN and CBS News, and sports networks CBS Sports and TNT Sports. Skydance says it has topped 200 million streaming subscribers and generates close to $70 billion a year in revenue, and it is targeting more than $10 billion in free cash flow by 2030.
What The Skydance Merger Means For AEW And Fans
AEW‘s corporate partner in the United States now carries the Skydance name, effective Oct. 6, the date the merger closed, according to Cageside Seats. No changes to AEW’s programming, its presence on TNT Sports or its broadcast arrangements have been announced, since the deal is a corporate ownership change rather than a programming shake-up.
Context: A Deal With Regulatory Strings Attached
Paramount was acquired by Skydance last year before merging with Warner Bros. Discovery. Warner Bros. had initially accepted an offer from Netflix before Paramount outbid it with a higher-value deal, one that included a penalty clause forcing Ellison to pay $7 million for every day the transaction remained unfinished past Oct. 1, according to the New York Post.
The Ellison family, including David Ellison and his father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, holds the largest equity stake in Skydance along with RedBird Capital Partners, the sole holders of Paramount Class A stock. Securing the deal required regulatory sign-off from the Department of Justice under President Trump along with authorities in the EU, UK, Australia and China, per the Associated Press.
As part of the settlement, the combined company must release 30 theatrical films annually for two years and 32 films per year for the three years after that, with only half required to be produced or co-produced in-house. Miss those quotas and Paramount must divest from Miramax Studios and pay $30 million per missed film into healthcare and retirement trust funds tied to the Writers Guild of America and other unions. The company must also ensure at least 20% of film production happens in the U.S. for the first two years, rising above 30% in the following three, and the agreement includes guardrails against using AI-generated content to pad those quotas, according to BBC Sport.
Paramount also agreed to form a News Editorial Independence Board within 180 days to oversee reporting at CNN and CBS. The board will consist of five active or retired journalists with at least a decade of experience, each appointed to three-year terms and reporting directly to the combined company’s board of directors, per the AP.
What’s Next
AEW’s next broadcast update will come from the promotion or Skydance.
Reporting from The Associated Press, Cagesideseats, New York Post and BBC Sport contributed to this story.
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