Hollywood-Megadeal: Paramount schließt Warner-Übernahme ab

Paramount, a tech billionaire Larry Ellison's controlled film empire, has successfully completed its acquisition of Warner for over $110 billion. The newly named company, Skydance, now faces a challenge of complex integration while managing a significant debt load of dozens of billion dollars. Hollywood is concerned about potential job cuts and political influence on CNN, with the Warner news network.

The deal impacts Hollywood as much as Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019. The Ellison family had previously acquired Paramount last year. Warner is known for iconic film franchises like Batman, Superman, and Harry Potter. Paramount brings in movies like Mission: Impossible and Star Trek. During the bidding war, Paramount pledged to release at least 30 films from both studios annually in the first two years post-merger, and 32 in the subsequent three years.

For each film below the combined level, a payment of $30 million is due. In addition, the new parent company, Skydance, will invest $1.5 billion over the next five years in U.S. productions. David Ellison, the chief executive of the new conglomerate, formerly known for the second "Top Gun" film, is responsible for strategy, while Ynon Kreiz, ex-Mattel CEO, handles day-to-day operations.

Employees are promised savings of $6 billion after three years. Concerns about CNN's fate arose in merger debates, as Ellison, a Trump supporter, could potentially weaken the network's editorial independence. To address this, Paramount announced the formation of an independent editorial oversight board for CNN, with current Chief Editor Mark Thompson continuing to lead the network.

Paramount executives Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein will take over the shared film division, while Warner's HBO Max head Casey Bloys will oversee the new joint business of Paramount+. Initially, Netflix had shown interest in acquiring Warner's streaming and studio operations, but Paramount held firm, offering a higher bid for the entire Warner Bros. Discovery, including CNN.