Paramount Skydance Corporation was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate co-headquartered in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California and at One Astor Plaza in New York City. CBS, a major Paramount asset, is also headquartered in New York City, but at the CBS Broadcast Center in Midtown Manhattan.
Paramount Skydance also housed major offices and operations at the previous Skydance Media headquarters in Santa Monica, California. Larry and David Ellison control the company, owning 77.5% of the voting shares and 47.2% of all shares. RedBird Capital Partners own 22.5% of the voting shares and 13% of all shares.
Paramount Skydance was formed on August 7, 2025, by David Ellison, through the merger of Skydance Media, Paramount Global, and National Amusements. The company traded under the ticker symbol "PSKY" on the Nasdaq.
Shortly after its formation, Paramount Skydance began pursuing an unsolicited bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery and subsequently won a bidding war for the company in February 2026. Paramount Skydance's purchase of WBD was approved by the U.S. Department of Justice on June 12, 2026. A subsequent anti-trust lawsuit by 12 state attorneys general (led by California) initially led Paramount to delay the closure of the acquisition until June 1, 2027, and a federal judge ruled in favor of holding a trial for the lawsuit in March 2027. Ultimately, on September 21, 2026, Paramount Skydance reached a settlement with the states, which included provisions for independent editorial boards at CNN and CBS News and a commitment by Paramount to release 30 films annually, with a $30 million penalty for each film below that target. On October 2, 2026, David Ellison announced that Paramount Skydance will be restructured and renamed to Skydance Corporation, and its stock will be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "SKYD" upon the merger's forthcoming completion, which closed on October 6, 2026.
Background
Through an assortment of corporate mergers, splits, and partnerships, Paramount Pictures, CBS, Viacom, and Skydance Media shared a long history prior to the 2025 merger joining the entities as Paramount Skydance.
1912–1986
Paramount Pictures was founded in 1912 as the Famous Players Film Company. CBS was founded in 1927, which Paramount Pictures held a 49% ownership stake in from 1929 to 1932.
In 1952, CBS formed CBS Television Film Sales, a division which handled broadcast syndication rights for CBS's library of network-owned television series. This division was renamed CBS Films in 1958 and again renamed CBS Enterprises Inc. on December 1, 1967. It was renamed Viacom (an acronym of Video and Audio Communications) in 1970. In 1971, this syndication division was spun off amid new FCC rules forbidding television networks from owning syndication companies. These rules were eventually abolished completely in 1993.
Meanwhile, Paramount Pictures was acquired by Gulf and Western Industries in 1966, which then re-branded itself as Paramount Communications in 1989.
1986–2005 In 1986, Viacom purchased MTV Networks and Showtime/The Movie Channel Inc. from Warner Communications and American Express. In 1987, a majority stake in Viacom was acquired by theater operator company National Amusements.
Viacom then purchased a 50.1% stake in Paramount Communications in February 1994 for $9.75 billion, following a five-month battle with shopping channel QVC. The merger was completed in July. In 1999, Viacom made its biggest acquisition to date by announcing plans to merge with its former parent CBS Corporation (the renamed Westinghouse Electric Corporation, which had merged with CBS in 1995). The merger was completed in 2000, resulting in CBS reuniting with its former syndication division.
2005–2022
On December 31, 2005, Viacom was split into two companies: the second incarnation of CBS Corporation, the former's corporate successor, and the second incarnation of Viacom, which was formed as a spin-off. The two companies re-merged in 2019, forming ViacomCBS, renamed to Paramount Global in 2022.
Skydance Media was founded in 2006 by David Ellison. In 2009, Skydance and Paramount Pictures signed a five-year co-financing, production and distribution agreement, with Paramount holding an additional option of distribution. That deal would later be extended twice in 2013 and 2017.
History Formation
In 2023, after struggling with debt and striving to remain competitive in the entertainment industry, Paramount's parent company, National Amusements, explored potential merger and acquisition opportunities for Paramount Global. Numerous prominent companies, such as Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. Discovery, Apollo Global Management, Warner Music Group, Allen Media Group, and Skydance Media, had indicated their interest in exploring potential business partnerships or purchasing the company.
After first coming to a merger deal with Skydance, Paramount and Skydance canceled the proposed merger on June 11 due to unsatisfactory conversations. Following a break in the talks, Skydance was able to reach a preliminary agreement on July 2, 2024, to perform a 3-way merger between it, National Amusements, and Paramount to establish what was then known as "New Paramount". After the merger closed, Skydance Media CEO David Ellison became the chairman and CEO of the combined company and Jeff Shell became the president.
Paramount said in February 2025, and May 2025, that it expected the transaction to close within the first half of the year, but it did not happen. With the deal not yet approved, the first automatic extension to July 7, 2025, went into effect on April 8, 2025, after which the second automatic extension to October 4, 2025, went into effect on July 7, 2025. The SEC and the European Commission (EC) approved the transaction in February 2025. On July 24, 2025, the FCC approved the merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media.
Merger restructuring On August 4, 2025, Paramount Skydance announced some of its new leadership alongside Ellison and Shell, with Andy Gordon joining as COO and strategy officer; Cindy Holland leading streaming services Paramount+ and Pluto TV; Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein co-leading Paramount Pictures; and Paramount Global veteran George Cheeks leading television networks. It was also announced the same day that the company would comprise 3 major units: studios (consisting of Paramount Pictures, Skydance Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies and other divisions such as those for film, television and video games), direct-to-consumer (Paramount+ and Pluto TV) and television media (CBS, BET, MTV, Nickelodeon among others). It also announced the merger of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Skydance Television into a revival of Paramount Television Studios to be headed by Matt Thunell. Oversight of the television units would be split, with Thunell heading the studios division (focusing on the streaming services) and George Cheeks overseeing production for the television media division (focusing on the linear networks), as well as South Park, which renewed its standing with Paramount in a deal worth $1.5 billion. Three months later in October following Paramount Skydance's relaunch of Paramount Television Studios, it was announced that Nickelodeon Group's live-action studio Nickelodeon/Awesomeness Live-Action aka Nickelodeon Productions and Awesomeness' production studio including Nickelodeon's & Awesomeness' production slates was folded into Paramount Television Studios, with the relaunched studio taking over Nickelodeon's current production slate alongside Awesomeness' current productions, and would produce their future production slates beginning with the upcoming Victorious spin-off series Hollywood Arts which was originally ordered at Nickelodeon had moved to Netflix as its first Nickelodeon-branded series produced by the revived studio.
On August 5, 2025, Paramount Skydance announced layoffs of around 1,000 employees and a slashing of $2 billion in operating costs, alongside interest in a merger of Paramount+ and Pluto TV with assist from Oracle Corporation. On August 7, Jeff Shell announced that Paramount Skydance was exploring a sale of the NAI cinemas. On August 8, Paramount announced that they would be based in the Paramount Pictures lot in Los Angeles, departing from One Astor Plaza for the first time since the first Viacom moved there in 1994. On August 11, Paramount announced a seven-year deal with TKO Group Holdings where Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will be exclusively distributed in the United States. UFC's 13 marquee numbered events and 30 "Fight Nights" will air on its streaming platform, Paramount+, with select numbered events also set to simulcast on CBS starting in 2026.
On August 13, 2025, Paramount announced that Top Gun 3, Star Trek, and other projects were now priorities. Paramount executives are looking to release twenty films per year. Cindy Holland, chairperson of direct-to-consumer, said, "We want to entertain all audiences around the world. On Paramount+ today, we have a really great foundation, which is the Taylor Sheridan universe. We also have incredible CBS next-day, live sports, a lot from the cable networks, franchises like Star Trek, so many series. We're seeking to expand that and make sure that we’re offering programming for everybody not just occasionally, not just for the one thing they came to watch but ultimately and hopefully a year round and a daily habit for all audiences." Streaming films will not be a priority per Ellison. Also that day, Shell announced $2 billion in cuts. "We do not want to be a company that has layoffs every quarter. So, it is important for us to get done what we're doing in one big thing and then be done with it," Shell said. On August 19, Paramount announced a four-year deal with Matt and Ross Duffer, the creators of Stranger Things, for movies, television and streaming projects at Paramount+. The agreement will commence following the conclusion of their current deal with Netflix in April 2026.
On September 2, 2025, Paramount Pictures announced that they and Microsoft-owned Activision Blizzard had signed a deal that will see the studio develop, produce and distribute a live-action film based on the Call of Duty franchise, which Ellison, a long-time fan of the series, considered a "dream come true". On September 3, Paramount Pictures announced that they signed a first-look, multi-picture deal with Will Smith and his company Westbrook. The deal will include films like Sugar Bandits and Rabbit Hole. Westbrook will also relocate to the Paramount lot in Hollywood. On September 4, Paramount Pictures and Legendary Entertainment announced a three-year worldwide film distribution deal. Under the deal, Paramount will market and distribute Legendary-developed and -produced theatrical films globally, excluding China, where Legendary East handles all marketing and distribution activities. Warner Bros. Pictures will continue to globally distribute films from select Legendary franchises including Dune: Part Three and Godzilla x Kong: Supernova (outside of Japan, which will be handled by Toho). The first film under the Paramount deal will be the live-action adaptation of the Street Fighter video game series. Also on September 4, Paramount announced a return to office policy that requires all employees to be in the office five days a week. On September 5, it was announced that Piers Morgan Uncensored will move from YouTube to 5 where it will air as a 90-minute highlights show starting September 12.