The Ellisons' $110 Billion Purchase of Warner Bros. is Official
The company will operate under the name Skydance.
Despite the failed attempt by California AG Rob Bonta and the ten other state attorneys general that joined him, the Paramount acquisition of Warner Bros. has officially closed. The Ellison family, represented by David Ellison, are now the owners of everything under the purview of Warner Bros. The resultant company born from this $110 billion deal will be called Skydance, allowing the various brands within the Ellisons' burgeoning multimedia empire to maintain their inviduality under this new umbrella.
With this acquisition, Skydance now has control over Paramount, Warner Bros., DC, HBO, CNN, Nickelodeon, CBS News, and much, much more. Under the settlement between the Ellisons and the attorneys general of the 11 states that were suing, Skydance will have to maintain studios within California for the next five years. Of course, that might just be window dressing to pretty up the situation, as numerous reports have alleged that the Ellisons are eyeballing states like Tennessee to build new facilities, something that would take (would you look at that) probably around five years to complete. Given the seemingly politicized nature of Bonta and company's lawsuit, which many believe was an attempt to keep CNN out of the control of the Ellisons, it wouldn't be surprising if Skydance does leave the Golden State after those five years pass.
Skydance begins this new chapter with an insane amount of debt: $80 billion, to be precise. The Ellisons plan to innovate with all of the new IPs and companies under its control, with the intent of building up Skydance to be a tech-centered operation to rival the likes of Netflix and YouTube. Lest anyone has forgotten, this acquisition also brings a number of video game companies under Skydance's control, including WB Games, which alone has TT Games, Netherealm, Rocksteady, and others. The impact on entertainment is going to be enormous, and yes, expect redundancies, sadly.
The Hollywood progressive elite, with actor Mark Ruffalo among the loudest, have been crowing about the deal. For many of these actors the motivation is likely more political than out of genuine concern for layoffs and diminished production volume. Based on the settlement with California and even prior to the lawsuit, the Ellisons had expressed that they wouldn't be minimizing production, yet the talk from many in Hollywood's activist community alleged the exact opposite. It's also worth mentioning that WB would have likely just gone bankrupt and had its parts sold like scrap if this deal didn't go through; Warner Bros. alone has $32 billion in debt. Interestingly, Ruffalo was quoted as saying this deal would "stifle creativity, weaken free speech, and cost people their jobs," but didn't have anything to say when Disney made a similar move with the purchase of Fox. Ruffalo plays the Incredible Hulk for Disney Marvel, incidentally.
Although layoffs haven't been announced, it's likely that they're on the way. Will Ellison be able to turn things around for Skydance and erase that $80 billion debt? Will Ellison do things like leverage CBS Sports into new ventures to rival competitors like ESPN? Only time will tell, but we'll be sure to keep you all informed.
Source: Deadline
