Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Adopts Skydance Name

Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery will take the Skydance name once their merger, valued at roughly $110 billion, is completed on Tuesday, October 6, TechCrunch reported.

Chief executive David Ellison spoke to employees this week about the choice of name, according to Variety. In the same remarks, he said goodbye to Warner's departing film leadership and sketched out parts of the studio's upcoming slate, which includes a sequel to "Barbie." Variety identified the outgoing film chiefs as Mike and Pam in its account of the address.

On the streaming side, the company has decided against folding its two major platforms into one, Deadline reported. HBO Max and Paramount+ will each keep operating under their own brands, and Skydance intends to sell them together as a bundle rather than build a single combined service. The decision settles one of the most-watched questions about the deal: whether subscribers to either platform would see their service absorbed into a new product. For now, the answer is no -- both apps survive, with a packaged offering planned instead.

The context

The transaction brings together two of Hollywood's longest-standing studio operations under one owner. Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery each run a major film studio alongside a flagship streaming service, and between them their studios and platforms reach tens of millions of U.S. households. The merger has been moving toward completion with an October 6 closing date, and this week's announcements -- the corporate name, the streaming strategy and the leadership farewells -- are among the final pieces falling into place before the companies formally combine. Ellison, who leads the merged entity, used the employee address to frame the transition, pairing the branding news with a look at coming projects. The material provided does not detail the regulatory path the deal took or the full terms of the transaction beyond its approximate $110 billion value.

Why it matters

A combination of this size reshapes how a large share of American film and television gets made and distributed. Tens of millions of households subscribe to or watch content from the two companies, so decisions like keeping HBO Max and Paramount+ separate directly affect what consumers pay and how they access programming. The bundling plan also signals how the merged company intends to compete in streaming: by packaging two established brands rather than betting on a single new one. For Hollywood workers, the leadership departures at Warner's film division preview broader changes as the organizations integrate.

What’s next

The deal is set to close Tuesday, October 6, after which the Skydance name takes effect. Pricing and launch timing for the HBO Max and Paramount+ bundle have not been detailed in the material available. Also to watch: who replaces the departing Warner film executives, and how the combined studio schedules projects Ellison previewed, including "Barbie 2."