Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery merge to form Skydance

Paramount Skydance closed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on Tuesday, creating a new combined company called Skydance and reducing Hollywood's major studios from five to four, according to multiple outlets including the Associated Press, Axios and the Los Angeles Times. The deal, pursued over roughly a year, brings together studios behind franchises such as "Mission: Impossible," "Harry Potter" and DC Studios, according to France 24 and Deseret News.

Outlets reported different values for the transaction: France 24, Axios and UPI cited $110 billion, while Deseret News, The Hollywood Reporter and Ars Technica cited $111 billion, and Arab News cited $81 billion. The merger combines television networks including CBS, CNN, HBO, Showtime, MTV, Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, TNT and TBS under one corporate owner, according to The Guardian and Axios.

David Ellison, who leads Skydance, is now positioned atop a major entertainment and news business, according to France 24 and Axios. Ellison said in a statement reported by Deseret News, "Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry," adding, "From the start, our ambition was to bring these two storied studios together and create a stronger competitor, with the talent, resources, and reach to tell great stories in every genre, on every platform, for audiences everywhere. Now that ambition is a reality." Deseret News also reported that Ynon Kreiz, former Mattel CEO, will serve as co-CEO at Skydance.

The companies plan to eventually merge their streaming services, HBO Max and Paramount+, into a single platform, though no timeline has been disclosed, according to The Guardian, The Verge and Axios. On the studio side, Skydance's newly appointed Motion Picture Group co-chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein pledged that Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures will continue to "build and release" their own slates of films, according to Variety. Deadline reported that Skydance's co-CEO said there are no current plans to consolidate the companies' television studios, including Warner Bros. Television Group, CBS Studios and Paramount TV Studios.

France 24 reported that the Ellison family has a long relationship with Republican President Donald Trump, who said Skydance is "going to be a great company." The Hollywood Reporter reported that the combined company carries roughly $80 billion in debt, which it said creates financial pressure as Skydance competes with Netflix and Disney.

How the coverage differed

Left-leaning outlets, including The Guardian and TheBlaze's right-leaning counterparts, gave significant attention to the presence of CNN and CBS News within the new company. The Guardian specifically noted scrutiny of CNN's inclusion given what it described as turmoil at CBS News under editor-in-chief Bari Weiss. TheBlaze, a right-leaning outlet, also focused heavily on CNN staff concerns, reporting that CNN's crew reportedly feared that Weiss would be given similar authority over CNN's news programming, and that staffers worried "programming and personnel changes could be driven by politics."

Center outlets, such as Axios and France 24, emphasized the scale of the deal and its implications for industry consolidation and regulatory scrutiny, with Axios noting the transaction "rattled Hollywood, Wall Street and Washington." France 24 was alone among the three political groupings in reporting Trump's comment calling Skydance a company that is "going to be a great company," and in noting the Ellison family's relationship with him.

Right-leaning outlets, including Deseret News and Breitbart, focused more on corporate leadership details, including Ellison's background founding Skydance Media in 2006 and his earlier $8 billion acquisition of Paramount Global, as well as Kreiz's appointment as co-CEO — details not emphasized by left-leaning or center outlets. TheBlaze additionally reported, citing a single source, that Skydance and Ellison had been open to moving $30 billion in operations out of California if the state blocked the deal.