Picture a typical Sunday night of TV. "The Last of Us" on HBO Max, "Dutton Ranch" on Paramount+, and NFL football on CBS. Not long ago, those shows came from rival companies.
Now one company owns them all. As of Oct. 6, the ticker that used to read PSKY now reads SKYD. Paramount Skydance (PSKY) is now Skydance Corporation, and its roughly $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery is finally done.
How Skydance Built a Hollywood Giant
David Ellison founded Skydance Media in 2010. His films, including "Top Gun: Maverick," have grossed nearly $10 billion worldwide. In 2025, Skydance took over Paramount, and Ellison went after a bigger prize.
Paramount Skydance agreed to pay $31 per share in cash for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). The Department of Justice cleared the deal on June 12 without forcing any asset sales.
Ellison also chose to attract top-tier talent to run the newly merged entity. On Sept. 30, the company named former Mattel (MAT) CEO Ynon Kreiz as joint chief executive. Kreiz led Mattel when "Barbie" became the top global box office film of 2023.
Ellison will steer strategy, and Kreiz will focus on integrating the two companies. "He has led this company through not one but two historic acquisitions," RedBird Capital Partners founder Gerry Cardinale said of Ellison.
What Skydance Owns Now
The content vault is massive. DC, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Star Trek, SpongeBob, Mission: Impossible and Top Gun now sit under one roof.
Management plans to merge Paramount+ and HBO Max into one service with more than 200 million subscribers. Paramount+ reached 81.6 million subscribers after adding about two million members in the second quarter.
For 2026, management is guiding to about $69 billion in revenue and $18 billion in EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization).
A key selling point of the merger is cost savings. Skydance expects more than $6 billion a year in savings, mostly from cutting duplicate technology, marketing, and corporate staff. About 2,000 jobs are already being cut.
In the first half of 2026, Paramount's TV Media revenue fell 7%, yet profit from that unit rose 14%. Paramount also raised its standalone 2026 outlook to between $3.8 billion and $3.9 billion in adjusted EBITDA. However, the combined company carries roughly $79 billion in net debt.
To fund the deal, Paramount Skydance sold $41.4 billion and €885 million in bonds, plus an $8.5 billion and €850 million term loan, according to a Sept. 30 company statement. Interest rates on those bonds run from 6.30% to 9.125% a year.
Its high debt levels have made Wall Street nervous. In fact, PSKY stock is down almost 50% over the last 12 months.
Bank of America cut its price target to $11 from $13 and kept an underperform rating. Morgan Stanley stayed underweight, called the debt load "staggering," and priced the stock at $10.50.
Legal risks also linger. California's attorney general still has an open investigation, and a private antitrust lawsuit from streaming customers is pending.
Should You Buy Skydance Stock?
Kreiz summed up the moment well. "The industry is at an inflection point, demanding evolution, investment, and a willingness to rethink business models," he said in a company statement.
Skydance has the shows people love. But a debt-heavy balance sheet amid rising interest rates makes Skydance stock a high-risk investment.
For most investors, a small starter position makes more sense than a big bet. Over the next 12 months, watch three things:
- Debt: Is net debt falling?
- Savings: Is management tracking toward that $6 billion target?
- Streaming: Do subscribers stick around once Paramount+ and HBO Max merge?
Until those answers are clear, Skydance is a stock to watch closely, not one to load up on.
On the date of publication, Aditya Raghunath did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.