As Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery nears completion, the combined company has been officially named Skydance, announced by David Ellison on social media platform X. The name honors Ellison’s passion for aviation, shared with his father Larry Ellison, Oracle co-founder and backer of the $111 billion deal.
It also reflects Ellison’s original entertainment company founded in 2006, which produced films like 'Top Gun: Maverick' and 'Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol.' Ellison emphasized the new name would not overshadow the legacy studios, preserving Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures identities. Unlike past media mergers that used portmanteaus (e.g., AOL Time Warner, Viacom CBS), Skydance represents a departure from that trend. Ellison has secured leadership roles for Casey Bloys (HBO chairman), Ynon Kreiz (former Mattel executive) as co-CEO, and is negotiating to retain Mark Thompson (CNN CEO).
The company will launch with $80 billion in debt, with Ellison pledging $6 billion in cost cuts involving layoffs. As part of an antitrust settlement, the new entity must distribute 30 films annually to theaters and spend an additional $1.5 billion on films over five years.
Source: New York Times Business · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing