David Ellison named Skydance to the iconic Warner Bros. headquarters in Burbank. He wasted no time adding it to the water tower.
On Tuesday morning, it was announced that Paramount had signed with Warner Bros. to create Skydance. Shortly after officially closing its $111 billion merger with Discovery, Warner Bros. studio’s famous landmark has been updated with a new series: “A Skydance Corporation.”
The move has precedent: After Ellison closed on Skydance Media’s acquisition of Paramount Global in August 2025, the water tower on the Paramount Pictures Studios lot in Hollywood was updated to include “A Skydance Corporation.” Meanwhile, it shows that Ellison’s plan all along was to rename the merged Paramount-WBD to Skydance, the name of the film production firm he founded in 2006.
Here’s a photo of the workers adding the Skydance name to the WB water tower:
Getty Images
The merger, opposed by many actors, filmmakers and other industry professionals, brings together two major studios; TV networks including CBS, CNN, Comedy Central, MTV and TNT; and streaming services Paramount+ and HBO Max. The new Skydance will have annual revenues of about $70 billion, according to the company, but it will also need to pay down $80 billion in net debt.
The Ellison family owns the largest stake in Skydance, with the support of David’s billionaire father, Larry Ellison. The Ellisons and their investment firm, RedBird Capital Partners, are the sole owners of Paramount Class A common shares, giving them 100% control of the voting shares of the combined company.
Skydance’s new chairman and CEO, David Ellison, and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz (former chief executive of Mattel) sent a lengthy memo to employees at the combined company on Tuesday morning. They outlined their goals for Skydance and also acknowledged that there would be layoffs as a result of integrating Paramount and Warner Bros.’ operations.
“The integration of the two companies will bring change, including difficult decisions affecting our workforce,” executives wrote in the memo, a copy of which was obtained. Diversity. “We are committed to handling this process thoughtfully and respectfully.”
On Tuesday, former Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Both Ellison and Kreiz also made statements from Los Angeles during the town hall, which was broadcast live worldwide with Discovery employees.
“Let’s be honest, it wasn’t easy getting here,” Ellison told new Skydance employees, according to a source. “It could get pretty ugly sometimes. And at almost every turn, someone was telling us it couldn’t be done. And here we are.” He continued: “I’m not telling you this to relive it. I’m telling you because every setback, every hard night, every moment when it would have been easier to walk away was worth it. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. Why? Because of what we’ve built together now.”
A Q&A session was held at the town hall with the participation of two executives, moderated by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper.