Skydance Corp. (NYSE:SKYD) shares are trending Tuesday after Paramount Skydance Corp. (NASDAQ:PSKY) completed its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.
- Skydance Corporation Class B Common Stock is showing notable weakness. Why are SKYD shares down?
Skydance Begins Trading as SKYD After Closing Warner Bros Deal
The company closed its purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) on Tuesday. Starting today, its Class B shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange as SKYD. Over on Nasdaq, WBD and PSKY shares have stopped trading.
WBD shareholders got about $31.02 per share in cash. The closing came after the company won every required regulatory approval, with competition authorities in nearly 70 jurisdictions unanimously signing off.
The pursuit lasted just over a year, CNBC reported. Warner Bros. Discovery turned down three Paramount offers in late 2025 and then struck a deal to sell its studios and streaming business to Netflix. Paramount countered with a hostile all-cash bid for all of WBD.
State attorneys general later challenged the deal on antitrust grounds, and the sides settled. The combined company holds two of Hollywood’s most storied film studios and close to a third of basic cable programming.
Skydance Combines Studios, Streaming Services and News Networks
Here is what the combined company owns. Skydance now holds two major film studios and two global streaming services. Its television lineup spans CBS, HBO and cable networks from both companies, along with the news operations CBS News and CNN. Live sports come through CBS Sports and TNT Sports. The company says it has more than 200 million streaming subscribers and nearly $70 billion in revenue.
Skydance promised to release at least 30 theatrical films a year, each with a window of at least 45 days in theaters. It already has more than 180 television shows. Chairman and CEO David Ellison said, “Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry.”
Skydance Targets $6 Billion in Synergies
The company has also laid out financial goals. Skydance aims to find at least $6 billion in run-rate synergies within three years. It says the savings will come mostly from technology, integration, procurement, marketing and real estate. Skydance also plans to cut net leverage to 3.0 times by the end of 2029 and expects to generate more than $10 billion in free cash flow by 2030.
The Ellison family owns the biggest equity stake. Together with RedBird Capital, the family holds every Class A share, and those shares carry 100% of the voting power. Investors put $47 billion of new Class B equity into the deal at $12 per share. Bank of America, Citigroup and Apollo led the debt financing. Much of that financing was disclosed before the closing, which may help explain why shares are steady.
SKYD Shares Are Falling
SKYD Price Action: Skydance shares were down 4.81% at $9.31 at the time of publication on Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro.
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