Judge Clears Paramount-Warner Bros Discovery Merger, Combined Company to Be Named Skydance

A federal judge has approved a settlement letting Paramount complete its $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros Discovery, and CEO David Ellison has revealed the new corporate parent will carry the Skydance name.

Paramount Warner Bros Discovery Merger Gets Final Court Approval

The Paramount Warner Bros Discovery merger cleared its last major legal hurdle on Wednesday, when US District Court Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin approved a settlement between Paramount, Warner Bros Discovery, and a coalition of 12 states that had sued to block the deal. The judge described the agreement as a fair and good-faith approach to addressing the competitive harms the states had raised.

The states, led by California, had argued the merger would consolidate nearly a third of all theatrical releases and basic cable programming under one company. They dropped the lawsuit in favor of a settlement on September 21, after California Governor Gavin Newsom urged Attorney General Rob Bonta to pursue a deal rather than continue fighting it in court.

What the Settlement Requires: Release Quotas and an Editorial Oversight Panel

Under the five-year settlement, Paramount must commit to 30 theatrical film releases a year in the US and keep its cable-carriage negotiations for Warner-owned channels separate from its Paramount-owned channel deals. The agreement also creates a five-member panel intended to protect editorial independence at CNN and CBS, though Ellison retains the authority to appoint its members, a point critics say undercuts the safeguard’s intent.

Senator Elizabeth Warren criticized the settlement, warning that concentrating so much of American news and entertainment under one Trump-aligned conglomerate was a troubling outcome. Skeptics have also pointed to Ellison’s earlier moves at CBS, including the installation of Bari Weiss as CBS News editor-in-chief, as evidence of how the combined company might handle its news operations going forward.

Combined Company Will Be Named Skydance, Ellison Confirms

Separately, Ellison confirmed this week that the merged corporate entity will be named Skydance, after the studio he founded two decades ago, even though the Paramount and Warner Bros brands will continue to operate as consumer-facing names. The company has told regulators it will adopt the ticker symbol SKYD and move its listing from the Nasdaq to the New York Stock Exchange once the merger takes effect.

Paramount has also brought on former Mattel chief executive Ynon Kreiz as co-CEO of the combined company, set to join the board and start at Paramount on October 5. Kreiz will share oversight of the combined businesses with Ellison, according to the company’s disclosures.

How Paramount Beat Netflix to Win Warner Bros Discovery

Paramount secured Warner Bros Discovery earlier this year after outbidding Netflix in a prolonged contest for the company, agreeing to pay $31 per share, a deal valuing WBD at roughly $110 billion in enterprise value. The Trump administration approved the transaction without requiring changes in June, ahead of the states’ lawsuit. The deal brings Warner Bros Pictures, CNN, HBO Max and a wide library of cable channels under Ellison’s control, alongside Paramount’s existing properties such as CBS, MTV and Paramount+.

Beyond the announcement

Analysts note the newly combined company will carry a heavy debt load, with executives previously citing roughly $79 billion in net debt tied to the transaction. That financial pressure, alongside the ongoing scrutiny of its news divisions, means the settlement’s terms are likely to be tested well before its five-year window closes.

Analysis

With court approval secured and a new name attached, the Paramount-Warner Bros- Discovery merger is now positioned to close in the coming days, creating one of the largest media and entertainment companies in the world alongside Disney and Netflix. The real test will be whether the settlement’s editorial-independence panel, appointed by Ellison himself, can credibly reassure skeptics about the future of CNN and CBS News, even as the broader industry watches how quickly Skydance moves to integrate two of Hollywood’s most storied studios.