Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Closes, Combined Company Named Skydance
Summary
David Ellison announced the new corporate identity on X, with Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy departing as film chiefs and Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein elevated to oversee labels across both studios
Paramount Skydance's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery officially closed October 2, four days ahead of its planned October 6 target, and the combined company has been renamed Skydance, chairman and CEO David Ellison announced. "What once was the peak, is now just the beginning," Ellison wrote in the announcement, posted to a newly created X account. "We chose this name for a few important reasons... we wanted a name that would give the combined company an identity of its own while allowing Paramount and Warner Bros. to remain in the spotlight." The company's stock ticker is changing from PSKY to SKYD, and its certificate of incorporation is being amended to reflect the new name, though Warner Bros., Paramount, DC, HBO Max, Nickelodeon, CBS, Paramount+ and CNN all continue operating under their existing brands. Film chiefs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy are departing as part of the leadership transition, according to Variety; Paramount Pictures leaders Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein are being elevated to oversee individual film labels across both companies, including New Line under Richard Brener. Casey Bloys, formerly of HBO, now oversees Paramount+ and HBO Max together, and Ynon Kreiz has joined as co-CEO.
The Kinolime Lens
De Luca and Abdy's exit is the detail independent producers should sit with longest. They ran Warner Bros.' theatrical slate, including its indie-adjacent Clockwork label launch, and their replacement by Paramount-side executives Goldberg and Greenstein means the creative sensibility greenlighting films at the merged company's labels has changed hands, not just the org chart. Every commitment from the antitrust settlement, the 30-to-32-film annual quota, the independent acquisition fund, now sits with leadership that wasn't in the room when those terms were negotiated, which is the real reason to watch what Skydance's labels actually buy over the next two quarters rather than trust the settlement's text alone.