Skydance Corp. officially closed its $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on October 6, 2026, ending a year of regulatory turbulence and folding Paramount's film and streaming operations into a combined entity that also controls five WB Games studios and a back catalogue spanning Harry Potter, DC and Game of Thrones.

Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders received approximately $31 per share in cash under the final terms. Legacy WBD shares ceased trading today; Skydance Class B shares have begun trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The company projects combined annual revenue of nearly $70bn at the new entity, against reported net debt of $80bn.

What does Skydance actually own now?

The merged group consolidates Paramount's broadcast and streaming footprint — CBS, MTV, Comedy Central, Paramount+ — with Warner Bros. Discovery's HBO Max, CNN, TBS and Turner assets. On the games side, the deal places Rocksteady (Arkham, Suicide Squad), NetherRealm (Mortal Kombat, Injustice), TT Games (Lego), Avalanche Software (Hogwarts Legacy) and WB Games Montreal under a single corporate parent for the first time. IPs that drive licensing, mobile adaptations and live-service roadmaps — DC's Batman and Superman stables, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, the Lord of the Rings Middle-earth rights — now sit alongside Paramount's Star Trek, SpongeBob and Sonic the Hedgehog catalogues.

Why did the deal nearly collapse?

The path to closing was unusually turbulent for a transaction of this size. Netflix and Paramount spent most of 2025 in a bidding war for WBD's assets before Netflix withdrew in early 2026, clearing Skydance's path to the merger agreement. The deal was then temporarily halted this summer after attorneys general from 12 US states argued the transaction would violate federal antitrust law. Federal review resumed and concluded in under three months, allowing the closing to proceed on schedule. David Ellison, previously the architect of Skydance's 2024 Paramount Skydance deal, takes the chairman and CEO seat at the combined group.

What changes for WB Games studios and the publisher market?

For studio leadership at Rocksteady, NetherRealm, TT Games, Avalanche and WB Games Montreal, the practical questions are portfolio, platform and headcount. A combined Paramount–Warner games catalogue rationalises cross-licensing for movie tie-ins and mobile spin-offs, but it also concentrates five internal studios under a parent carrying $80bn in net debt — a figure that historically pressures publisher groups toward studio closures, project cancellations and live-service monetisation pivots.

For competing publishers and platform holders, the consolidation reduces the number of large Western IP owners competing for premium game licensing deals on Batman, Harry Potter and Game of Thrones, while expanding the catalogue available for first-party development. Mobile publishers that previously licensed DC and Harry Potter rights from Warner face a single new counterparty in renewals. Engine and middleware partners servicing WB Games — Unreal Engine licensees, Havok integrators — will inherit Skydance procurement rather than WBD's separate vendor pipeline.

What did the new leadership say?

Ellison framed the closing in operational terms rather than market-share language. "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," Ellison said in a statement. "Our focus now turns to the future: building a company that empowers creatives, entertains audiences and rewards shareholders." No specific games-industry leadership appointments or studio roadmaps were disclosed at closing.

What to watch next

The first operational test for Skydance's games vertical will come with quarterly earnings, expected in early 2027, where investors will look for any guidance on studio restructuring, project pipelines or cost-synergy targets tied to the $80bn debt load. Any decision to divest non-core entertainment assets — or to fold WB Games operations more tightly with Paramount's interactive division — would land at that reporting window.