David Ellison announced Friday that the combined company from Paramount's roughly $110 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery will be called Skydance — and named former Mattel chief Ynon Kreiz as his co-CEO days before the deal closes.
In his first post on X, Ellison said Paramount and Warner Bros. will keep their identities as studios under the Skydance corporate umbrella. "Paramount and Warner Bros. shaped over a century of culture," he wrote. "By combining them, we aren't rewriting history — we're equipping these iconic studios with a more powerful engine."
The company's legal name changes to Skydance Corporation on October 6, when its Class B shares move from Nasdaq to the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "SKYD," replacing "PSKY," according to a regulatory filing.
Kreiz, 60, starts October 5. The man who turned Mattel into a Hollywood player behind the Barbie phenomenon will run day-to-day operations and lead the integration of the two companies. Ellison stays chairman and CEO, keeping control of strategy, creative decisions, talent relationships, technology bets and capital allocation. Both will sit on the board — its only confirmed members so far.
"In Ynon, I'm adding a partner with strong leadership and the operating firepower this integration demands," Ellison said in the announcement.
The deal cleared its final legal hurdle this week when a federal judge approved Paramount's settlement with 12 state attorneys general, led by California, who had sued to block the transaction over competition concerns. As part of the deal, the combined company agreed to invest at least $1.5 billion more in domestic production over five years plus workforce training funds. California Attorney General Rob Bonta stressed the settlement "is not a vote of support for this merger."
Closing is expected Tuesday. The combination unites Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, CBS, CNN, HBO and HBO Max, Paramount+, MTV, TNT, Discovery and more — plus franchises including "The Lord of the Rings," "Game of Thrones," the DC Universe and "Yellowstone." The merged studios are positioned to release 35 films in the year after closing, according to entertainment data firm Rentrak.
The prize comes with pressure: about $80 billion in combined debt and a $6 billion cost-savings target. Ellison must now deliver both bold storytelling and brutal efficiency — the defining tension of Hollywood's newest giant.