The megamerger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery is scheduled to close Tuesday, with the new company adopting the name Skydance Corp.
David Zaslav, president and chief executive of WBD, bid farewell to the company’s employees Monday in a video available only on WBD’s internal portal, Variety reported.
Zaslav, who is expected to exit WBD with the megamerger, expressed gratitude for the employees’ hard work and creativity over the years, according to the Hollywood trade publication.
The video includes a montage of WBD’s biggest hits, including clips from “The Pitt,” “The Lego Movie,” “Barbie” and “Dune,” Variety said.
The companies expect to complete their roughly $110 billion transaction Tuesday.
“Paramount and Warner Bros. shaped over a century of culture. By combining them, we aren’t rewriting history — we’re equipping these iconic studios with a more powerful engine,” Paramount Chairman and CEO David Ellison wrote Friday in a post on X. “Together, we are Skydance: a creative-first home for bold, quality storytelling.”
Ellison said Paramount and Warner Bros. will retain their individual studio identities after the combination.
“We never wanted a new corporate identity to diminish, alter or overshadow either one,” Ellison wrote. “Instead, we wanted a name that would give the combined company an identity of its own while allowing Paramount and Warner Bros. — and all our extraordinary brands — to remain in the spotlight.”
The transaction cleared a major legal hurdle last week when a federal judge approved a settlement resolving an antitrust challenge brought by California and 11 other states.
Ellison will lead the combined company alongside Ynon Kreiz, who was appointed co-CEO of Paramount Skydance effective Monday and will serve as co-CEO of the combined company upon closing. Kreiz, who has served as CEO of Mattel, is expected to oversee day-to-day operations and the integration of the two companies.
The combined company would include Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, CBS, CNN, HBO, HBO Max, Paramount+, MTV, TBS, TNT, Comedy Central, Food Network, Discovery, HGTV, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, BET, Showtime, Pluto TV and other businesses.
The Skydance name traces back to the entertainment company Ellison founded in 2006. His Skydance Media combined with Paramount in 2025, creating Paramount Skydance.