Warner Bros. Discovery Shareholders Receive $31 Per Share as $78 Billion Skydance Merger Closes and WBD Delists

The Quick Take

• Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has completed its $78 billion merger with Skydance Corporation, with shareholders receiving $31.01666668 per share in cash as WBD delists from Nasdaq
• Skydance Corporation issued $41.4 billion in senior secured notes to finance the acquisition, creating a highly leveraged combined media entity
• WBD becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Skydance (PSKY), which will now operate the combined Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery entertainment empire

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has completed its merger with Skydance Corporation, with GuruFocus reporting that WBD shareholders received $31.01666668 per share in cash as WBD was delisted from Nasdaq and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Skydance Corporation. The $31.01 per share cash payout represents the final merger consideration for WBD shareholders, completing the liquidation of their equity stake. The implied transaction value of approximately $78 billion—reflecting WBD's share count at the merger consideration price—was financed in part through Skydance's issuance of $41.4 billion in senior secured notes.

The $41.4 billion debt issuance is the most consequential financial feature of the merger from a credit market perspective. Senior secured notes at this scale represent a major new leveraged credit issuer in the entertainment sector, with implications for high-yield bond market capacity and credit spreads for comparable media issuers. The debt service obligations on $41.4 billion at current credit market rates would exceed $2.5-3.0 billion annually, requiring the combined Skydance-WBD entity to generate substantial free cash flow from streaming, theatrical, and linear media revenues to sustain the capital structure. Moody's and S&P ratings of the new Skydance notes would signal whether the entity has investment-grade or high-yield debt status.

The market implications center on the surviving Skydance Corporation (PSKY) stock performance as the successor entity. PSKY shareholders now hold equity in an entertainment conglomerate with the full combined Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery content library, but burdened by $41.4 billion in acquisition debt. The forward signal is Skydance's Q4 2026 earnings call—the first post-completion period—which will reveal the integration cost structure, free cash flow trajectory, and debt paydown strategy. Watch for streaming subscriber data on the combined Paramount+-Max platform as the primary KPI that will determine whether the acquisition thesis justifies the leverage.

Synthesized from 2 sources.