CHICAGO | It’s official: Skydance-owned Paramount has closed its $81 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery.

The companies completed the deal on Tuesday, ushering in a new Hollywood giant with the now shorter “Skydance” nametag. The merger brings two of America’s oldest moviemaking studios together. And HBO Max, titles ranging from “Harry Potter” to “Sinners” and even networks like CNN find themselves under the same roof as Paramount+, CBS and the likes of “Top Gun” and “The Godfather.”

All of them will come under the helm of billionaire David Ellison, and his new co-CEO Ynon Kreiz. That further concentrates power in an industry already run by just a handful of major players. Ellison’s Skydance bought out Paramount for $8 billion just last year, and set its sights on Warner — an even bigger fish — very soon after.

What followed erupted into a tumultuous, roughly year-long fight over Warner’s fate.

Skydance Corp. emerges from one of the biggest tie-ups ever in the media and entertainment industry. Including billions of dollars in debt, the Warner acquisition amounted to nearly $111 billion.

“Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry,” Ellison said in a statement Tuesday. “We couldn’t be more excited to get to work.”

Here’s a look at some of the key moments that got us here.

Netflix v. Paramount

The early days of Paramount’s quest for Warner turned into a messy bidding war.

Months after disclosing it was open to selling parts or even all of its business, Warner initially struck a studio and streaming deal with Netflix back in December. But Skydance-owned Paramount, which claimed Warner management “never engaged meaningfully” with its previous proposals, soon launched a hostile counterbid aimed at taking over the entire company — including networks like CNN and Discovery.

The Hollywood giants spent much of early 2026 in a heated back-and-forth over who had a stronger offer on the table, with Warner leadership repeatedly backing Netflix as its preferred suitor. But Paramount eventually upped its offer to buy all of Warner for $31 per share, and Netflix opted to bow out of the race. Warner and Paramount inked a mutual merger agreement by late February.

The response from Hollywood

Hollywood was closely watching the fight over Warner’s future. And from awards shows to online petitions, A-list celebrities and other creatives made their voices known.

In April, thousands of movie stars, writers, directors and other professionals announced their “unequivocal opposition” to the Paramount-Warner merger. The open letter — which was signed by long-outspoken critics of the deal like Jane Fonda and Mark Ruffalo, as ws, df="htdeal like Jane Fonda and Mark Ruffalo, as ws, df="htdeal like Jaonda anvoices known.

In April,irec.post-caApril,s://schema.org/Samount-Wawrappere" classass="a mutual meely watching the f3ght over Warner’s future. "merger. The open lettes-bap"merger. The open lettes-bapark n.cat-sts-wrapirap .postflndinen lettes-bap-irap .postflnd"megory menu-nen lettehle.coms-wrapperenvermovinowed eruptet-cat-item.cat-153 a, �of dt-cat-item.cat-153 a,.irap .postflndinen lettes-banner-wrapirap .postflnd"mestryad eruptet-cat-item.cat-153 a, �">