Paramount closes $111 billion Warner Bros. Discovery takeover

Paramount's $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery became official October 6 after a federal judge approved the deal in late September, beating Netflix's $82.7 billion bid and creating a combined company with nearly $70 billion in annual revenue.

Why it matters: The biggest media merger in history puts CNN, HBO and a combined streaming stack under David Ellison's control, concentrating pricing power over theatrical, cable and streaming just as regulators and lawmakers warn about competition.

Data as of Sunday, October 11, 2026: TechCrunch explainer opened and read in full; figures (bid sizes, debt load, revenue) are TechCrunch's reporting of the deal record. Single-sourced explainer: treat as developing.

Paramount closed its $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on October 6, after a federal judge approved the merger in late September following a lawsuit by 12 state attorneys general, per TechCrunch. Netflix, which had offered $82.7 billion for WBD’s studios and streaming assets in December, withdrew after Paramount raised its bid to $31 a share in February.

The combined company, renamed Skydance, will carry about $87 billion in debt and plans to merge the Paramount+, HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming services. David Ellison has warned of significant job reductions, and the deal’s political overhang, including Trump’s pressure over CNN and a $16 million CBS settlement before the FCC approved Ellison’s Paramount takeover, continues to draw scrutiny from lawmakers.

Paramount closes $111 billion Warner Bros. Discovery takeover

Sources