Paramount-Warner deal closes Tuesday as TV leaders take shape
Paramount Skydance's $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery is set to close Tuesday, Variety reported. HBO's Casey Bloys is poised to run both HBO Max and Paramount+, and CBS's George Cheeks is set to oversee all three TV studios, according to trade reports.
AI-assisted · US Brief desk · Sources listed below
What happened
Paramount Skydance's $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery is set to close Tuesday, Variety reported. The deal puts Paramount, CBS, Warner Bros., HBO and CNN under David Ellison's control.
Closing day: The combined company's shares will move from Nasdaq to the New York Stock Exchange, with the ticker changing from PSKY to SKYD, Variety said. Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz plan a press briefing Tuesday evening and an employee town hall.
Streaming: HBO chief Casey Bloys is poised to run both HBO Max and Paramount+, Deadline reported, after Paramount's streaming chief Cindy Holland stepped down Sept. 29. The two services have more than 200 million subscribers combined. Variety said the brands are expected to stay separate for now. Bloys has hinted at bundling rather than a merger of the apps.
What’s next
Watch Tuesday's briefing for official leadership roles, layoff plans and any streaming bundle.
More context
TV studios and cable: CBS's George Cheeks is set to oversee Warner Bros. Television, CBS Studios and Paramount Television Studios, TheWrap reported. Channing Dungey would add Paramount's cable channels, including MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and BET, to Warner's networks such as Discovery, TNT and HGTV, Deadline reported, citing sources. Representatives declined to comment.
Film: Skydance film chiefs Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg will run both studios. Warner film heads Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy are leaving.
The debt: The combined company will carry more than $80 billion in net debt and more than $6 billion a year in interest, Variety reported. It is targeting $6 billion in savings. An LA County report projects about 4,500 local film and TV job losses over three years.
Two views: Actor Mark Ruffalo said the merger "will stifle creativity, weaken free speech and cost people their jobs." Ellison has called the company "a creative-first home for bold, quality storytelling."
5 listed sources
- Variety (Todd Spangler), Oct 3, 2026
- Deadline (Nellie Andreeva), Oct 4, 2026
- Deadline, Oct 1, 2026
- TheWrap (Tess Patton), Oct 2, 2026
- Sourcing note: Trade press (Variety, Deadline, TheWrap). Deadline's Dungey report is an exclusive based on sources; reps declined to comment.
References listed by US Brief; a source count is not a verification score.
Editorial sourcing notes
The company has not formally announced its full TV leadership. Roles for Casey Bloys, George Cheeks and Channing Dungey come from Deadline, Variety and TheWrap, some citing unnamed sources; a Paramount spokesperson declined to comment to TheWrap. Job-loss figures are an LA County report's projection.
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