SpongeBob, Batman, Harry Potter and CNN now have the same boss. Meet Skydance

The giant water tower over the Warner Bros lot in Burbank has watched almost a century of Hollywood history. This week it carries new words. "A Skydance Corporation."

On Tuesday, 6 October, Paramount officially took over Warner Bros Discovery. The two oldest movie studios in Hollywood are now one company, and it has a new name. Skydance.

Think about what that means. The people who make SpongeBob now share an owner with the people who make Batman. Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Star Trek, Top Gun and Mission: Impossible all live under one roof. So do CNN and CBS News.

The list of brands now under one roof racked up 3.1 million views in a day. A lot of people grew up with these cartoons and shows. Now they all belong to one billionaire family.

Did Warner Bros and Paramount really merge?

Yes. The deal closed on Tuesday after more than a year of fighting, lawsuits and bidding wars.

Paramount paid $31 in cash for every Warner Bros Discovery share. That values the company at about $81 billion. Add the debt Paramount took on, and the total comes to nearly $111 billion, ABC News reports.

The new company trades on the New York Stock Exchange as SKYD. Its first day was not a party. Shares fell about 3% and closed around $9.51.

"Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry," David Ellison said.

Who owns Warner Bros now?

David Ellison does. He is 43, he runs Skydance as chairman and CEO, and he is the son of Larry Ellison, the Oracle founder and one of the richest people on the planet.

The younger Ellison only bought Paramount last year, in an $8 billion deal. Twelve months later he owns Warner Bros too. According to the Associated Press, his father's Silicon Valley fortune gave him extraordinary backing.

He shares the top job with co-CEO Ynon Kreiz. David Zaslav, the man who ran Warner Bros Discovery, is gone.

Photo: Carol M. Highsmith / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Didn't Netflix almost buy Warner Bros?

It did. In December 2025 Netflix struck a deal worth $27.75 a share, or $82.7 billion including debt. Netflix only wanted the movie studios, HBO and the streaming business. It did not want the cable channels like CNN.

Paramount refused to lose. It went straight to Warner's shareholders with a hostile bid of $30 a share for the whole company. The Associated Press counted nine separate offers from Ellison before he finally won.

In February Netflix suddenly walked away. Warner Bros Discovery signed with Paramount days later. Some fans still wonder what HBO would look like inside Netflix today.

What companies does Skydance own now?

The list is huge. It is easier to say what is not in it.

Studios include Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros and Skydance. TV channels include CBS, CNN, HBO, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, MTV, Comedy Central, TNT, TBS and Food Network. Streaming includes HBO Max, Paramount+ and Pluto TV.

Then there are the stories. DC and Superman. Harry Potter. Game of Thrones. SpongeBob. Star Trek. Top Gun. The Godfather. Even last year's hit Sinners.

Skydance says the combined company makes nearly $70 billion a year. It also carries about $80 billion in debt. That second number is the one that worries people inside the company.

Will HBO Max and Paramount+ merge into one app?

That is the plan. Back in March, Ellison said he would put the two services together. "Today gives us a little over 200 million direct-to-consumer subscribers," he told investors.

He also promised one thing fans wanted to hear. "HBO should stay HBO," he said.

For now, both apps still exist as separate services. Skydance has not announced a price for the combined app or a date for when it arrives. HBO boss Casey Bloys now oversees shows for both HBO Max and Paramount+.

Fans online are already doing the maths. Two services merging into one usually means one bill. Many think that bill will be bigger. Nobody at Skydance has said how much.

Will my favourite shows get cancelled?

Nobody knows yet, and that is what has fans nervous.

Skydance has promised to cut $6 billion in costs over three years. Staff at both companies are bracing for several rounds of layoffs in the coming months, Variety reports. When asked about job cuts this week, the bosses did not give a number or a timetable.

Some changes have already landed. Warner Bros film bosses Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy are leaving. Paramount's film chiefs Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg will run both studios.

DC fans got good news. James Gunn and Peter Safran are staying in charge of DC Studios, so Superman's future still sits with the people who rebooted him. Fans of Transformers star Megan Fox may notice that franchise is Paramount too.

Why are people worried about CNN and CBS?

Because CNN and CBS News now share an owner, and that owner has friends in the White House.

President Trump said the company is "going to be a great company." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth went further about CNN. "The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better," he said. Ellison reportedly hosted a dinner for Trump in April.

Ellison insists nothing will change in the newsroom. "We believe in editorial independence, and we will never interfere," he said, adding that he wants to be "in the truth business." He kept Mark Thompson as CNN's boss and even backed CNN's lawsuit against the Trump administration over White House access, CNN reports.

Photo: Charles Atkeison / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Twelve state attorneys general sued to block the deal. They settled in September. Skydance agreed to set up a News Editorial Independence Board to watch over CNN and CBS. It also promised a fund for workers who lose their jobs and more US film production.

Did Hollywood try to stop the merger?

Loudly. In April, thousands of writers, actors and directors signed an open letter against it. Jane Fonda, Mark Ruffalo, J.J. Abrams and Dune director Denis Villeneuve were among them.

Sally Field used her Emmy speech to push back. She said voices cannot be "silenced, or compromised or merged."

To calm theaters, Skydance promised at least 30 movies in cinemas every year, rising to 32 after two years, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. It also pledged an extra $1.5 billion for movies over five years.

The company even picked a star-studded board. Laurene Powell Jobs and former Activision boss Bobby Kotick joined it. Former British prime minister Tony Blair signed on as an adviser.

What comes next for the biggest entertainment empire on Earth?

Ellison wants more than a studio. He wants to turn Skydance into a tech company, CNN reports, and use his family's Silicon Valley know-how to take on Netflix. Tech money has written some wild stories before, John McAfee's among them. This one is bigger.

The pieces are all on the board. Superman and SpongeBob. The Iron Throne and the Enterprise. Two of America's biggest newsrooms. One app that could reach more than 200 million people.

A century ago, Warner Bros and Paramount fought for every star in Hollywood. Today the same water tower that watched that fight carries a new name. Everything you grew up watching now answers to one family. What they build with it starts now.