Paramount Closes Deal for Warner Bros. Discovery, Creating Media Behemoth
After a legal battle, the two Hollywood giants have become one. But the new company is saddled with debt, and in a memo to employees, its leaders hinted at cost cuts.
Paramount closed its deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery on Tuesday, putting the tech scion David Ellison in control of a vast media empire that oversees many of Hollywood’s most valuable properties.
The deal immediately catapults the combined company, now called Skydance, to the front rank of competitors alongside streaming titans like Netflix and YouTube, just behind giants like Disney and Amazon.
Related Knowledge Center: State of the business model
The traditional journalism business model has long since collapsed, and news organizations have shrunk or disappeared entirely. While a number of promising experiments are under way, the public has not shown a willingness to buy what news organizations are selling.