‘ParaBros’ settles on ‘Skydance Corp.’ as new company name once merger completes

The combined Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery will operate under the corporate name Skydance after the companies complete their $111 billion merger, David Ellison announced Friday.

The announcement ends speculation about what branding the media giant would use, with some nicknaming it “ParaBros” in the interim. 

Ellison, Paramount’s chairman and CEO, said the company is targeting Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, to close the Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition. The Skydance name and logo will then become the corporate identity of the expanded company, while the Paramount and Warner Bros. studio names will remain in use for specific divisions, though it was not clear if the “Discovery” name might be used beyond the networks that use it in their names.

This appears to mean that the curved Skydance logo with the horizon mark under it, with the name set in Minion, will become the new company’s wordmark of choice. 

“We wanted to preserve what has made each of these studios iconic,” Ellison wrote in a social media post announcing the decision. “We never wanted a new corporate identity to diminish, alter or overshadow either one.”

Ellison founded the original Skydance nearly two decades ago before building it into the company that acquired Paramount in 2025.

The Warner Bros. Discovery transaction cleared one of its final hurdles Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, when U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín approved a settlement resolving an antitrust lawsuit brought by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and attorneys general from 11 other states. Paramount has received approvals from nearly 70 regulators for the transaction.

Under the settlement, Paramount agreed not to sell or close the Paramount studio lot on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, California, or the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, California, and to continue operating both consistent with past practices.

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The transaction will bring CBS, CNN, HBO, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET, TBS and Food Network under the same corporate parent, along with Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., Paramount+ and HBO Max.

Former Mattel chief named co-CEO of ‘ParaBros’

The company has also begun establishing its leadership structure ahead of the closing. Former Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz has been named co-CEO alongside Ellison and will oversee day-to-day operations and integration of the businesses.

Kreiz will receive a $5 million annual salary and have a target annual bonus of $4.9 million, according to a regulatory filing. His compensation package also includes a $31.5 million signing bonus paid through restricted stock units.

Additional changes are expected across the combined company. HBO Chairman Casey Bloys is widely expected to oversee streaming programming following the departure of Paramount streaming chief Cindy Holland. Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group co-chairs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy are also expected to leave their positions.

The companies have not announced plans to immediately combine Paramount+ and HBO Max. Bloys suggested Thursday that bundling the two services could be an option, allowing both to continue operating separately for the time being.

Skydance is expected to carry more than $80 billion in debt following the transaction and has committed to finding $6 billion in cost savings within three years.

RedBird Capital Partners founder and Paramount board member Gerry Cardinale said some savings could come from consolidating technology used by the companies’ streaming platforms. He also acknowledged that layoffs would be part of the cost reductions.