Just Skydance. It’s cleaner.
David Ellison has a new name for the company that will result from the $110 billion mega-merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery: Skydance.
Skydance is the name of David Ellison’s first movie production company, which worked on movies including entries in the Top Gun and Mission: Impossible franchises.
Ellison framed the move as a way to avoid degrading the status of either Paramount or Warner Bros., iconic movie studios that rose during Hollywood’s golden era.
“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,” Ellison said on X on Friday. “Together, we are Skydance: a creative-first home for bold, quality storytelling.”
Paramount settled two lawsuits last week, effectively paving the way for its blockbuster deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery that will reshape Hollywood. Twelve states and the Writers Guild of America had sued to block the merger. The states argued that it would give Paramount too much power over the distribution of theatrical movies, big-budget films, and basic cable channels. Paramount denied those claims and said its deal would improve competition in Hollywood and benefit consumers.
When the merger is complete, Ellison — along with his father Larry, the Oracle billionaire whose fortune backstopped the deal — will oversee a host of major media assets, including two movie studios, HBO, Paramount+, and TV networks such as CBS, CNN, and dozens more.
Along with the new name, David Ellison’s plans for the combined company are starting to come into focus.
On Wednesday, he announced that Ynon Kreiz, who’d been the CEO at toy maker Mattel since 2018, would become co-CEO of the new company.
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“We have big goals for Skydance, and we intend to pursue them with passion, imagination and a willingness to take smart risks,” Ellison said Friday on X.