Paramount-WBD Merger Will Create New Entertainment Giant Called Skydance

Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery are set to operate under the name Skydance following the expected completion of their merger.

Skydance CEO David Ellison announced the new corporate identity Friday in a post on X. The $110 billion deal is expected to close Tuesday, following nearly a year of pursuit by Ellison and a two-month delay linked to antitrust litigation involving 12 states and the Writers Guild of America.

“What once was the peak, is now just the beginning,” Ellison wrote. “Paramount and Warner Bros. shaped over a century of culture. By combining them, we aren’t rewriting history – we’re equipping these iconic studios with a more powerful engine. Together, we are Skydance: a creative-first home for bold, quality storytelling.”

Ellison said the decision to use Skydance as the name for the combined company was intended to establish a distinct corporate identity without diminishing the histories or brands of Paramount and Warner Bros.

“We never wanted a new corporate identity to diminish, alter or overshadow either one,” he said. “Instead, we wanted a name that would give the combined company an identity of its own while allowing Paramount and Warner Bros. – and all our extraordinary brands – to remain in the spotlight.”

The naming approach follows Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount in August 2025. At the time, the company sought to retain Paramount’s strong consumer recognition while positioning Skydance as its corporate parent. The resulting name was initially “Paramount, a Skydance Corporation,” before being shortened to “Paramount Skydance Corporation.”

The newly combined company also had to navigate significant legal challenges before moving toward completion of the merger. A group of 12 state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America had challenged the transaction on antitrust grounds, arguing that the deal could create an illegal concentration of power in the entertainment industry.

A settlement established through a five-year consent decree requires Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery to maintain separation in certain areas of their operations. The agreement also includes provisions intended to prevent one of the major studios from effectively disappearing as a result of the transaction, addressing concerns raised by opponents of the merger.

Those restrictions also made the choice of a corporate name particularly significant, as a name that appeared to favor either Paramount or Warner Bros. could have created additional complications.

Without an official name for the combined company, informal terms such as “WarnaMount” and “ParaBros” had circulated as shorthand for the merger.

The new Skydance identity also marks the end of Discovery Communications’ presence in the corporate name. Discovery Communications went public in 2008, roughly two decades after the Discovery Channel launched as a cable network. Following the merger, the Discovery name will no longer appear as part of the new company’s corporate identity.