Key facts
- Skydance plans $6 billion in cost savings over three years from the Warner Bros Discovery acquisition.
- Skydance expects to realize 30% of the savings in the first year.
- The company will cut at least $2.2 billion from corporate overhead and real estate and $1 billion from marketing.
- About $1.4 billion of the savings will come from reducing technology costs.
- Skydance will stop disclosing quarterly subscriber figures, following Netflix.
- Warner Bros film slate underperformance will impact fourth-quarter profit by up to $200 million, Skydance said.
Skydance said on November 9, 2026 that it plans to deliver $6 billion in cost savings from its acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery and will launch a streaming bundle combining HBO Max and Paramount+ early next year. The company disclosed the plans in its third-quarter earnings statement, its first since completing the Warner Bros purchase in October.
The combined company, led by CEO David Ellison and Co-CEO Ynon Kreiz, includes Warner Bros and Paramount studios, the CBS broadcast network, CNN and a group of cable channels. Skydance said it would offer full-year guidance for the combined business when it reports results for the December quarter.
For the Paramount business, revenue rose 5% to $7 billion in the quarter ended in September, before the Warner Bros deal closed. Paramount+ revenue jumped 21% in the third quarter. Combined with HBO and the HBO Max streaming service, the services reach 203 million subscribers globally.
Skydance said it will stop disclosing quarterly subscriber figures, following Netflix as the industry shifts its focus toward profitability and engagement as measures of growth. The Warner Bros acquisition left Skydance with $87 billion of gross debt and about $10 billion in cash.
Ellison and Kreiz said in a letter to shareholders that they are confident the company can reach the $6 billion in cost cuts over three years. Skydance expects to realize 30% of the savings in the first year, cut at least $2.2 billion from corporate overhead and real estate, and $1 billion, or 20%, from marketing costs. About $1.4 billion will come from reducing technology costs.
Earlier on November 9, Skydance announced that James Gunn and Peter Safran stepped down as heads of DC Studios and were replaced by Marvel veteran Jeremy Latcham as president and chief creative officer. Gunn and Safran will return to creative work at the company.
Skydance said underperformance of Warner Bros' film slate would impact fourth-quarter profit by up to $200 million. Tom Cruise's latest movie, the Warner Bros dark comedy "Digger," finished fifth on US and Canadian charts in its opening weekend in October.