The numbers:
$73 million – Paramount Skydance’s third-quarter net earnings before it acquired Warner Bros. Discovery in October.
$7 billion – Paramount Skydance’s revenue, a 5% year-over-year growth, before its acquisition was completed.
$6 billion – How much Skydance expects to achieve in run-rate synergies over the next three years.
20% – Rise in sports advertising commitments year-over-year for current and upcoming sports seasons leading into 2027.
The Watercooler talk:
Over the next few months and possibly years, bundling will take place at Skydance. After completing its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery in October, the combined conglomerate is now looking to slim down and cut its roughly $80 billion debt.
In corporate speak, Skydance is looking to consolidate a lot of back-end and front-end operations. In regular parlance, this is just bundling, and the media company is looking to bundle much of what it has now to achieve these savings. It has started more than 20 of what it calls “workstreams” to identify areas of possible cuts.
The Skydance third-quarter earnings letter to shareholders said the company aims to reduce costs at least $2.2 billion by “bundling” redundant back-office and corporate functions. It aims to “bundle” its media planning and buying across business units to eliminate audience overlap, coordinate campaigns across those units and maximize media efficiency at scale.
Other areas will also see bundling, including technology. Skydance will unify its enterprise tech stack, streaming ecosystem and broadcast architecture, merging parallel technology functions. It will also bundle procurement and vendor management operations, saying its combined purchasing levels will provide economies of scale by consolidating purchasing decisions into one centralized group.
However, the one “bundle” consumers and subscribers will care about is direct-to-consumer products. Skydance announced in early 2027 it will bundle HBO Max and Paramount+. During the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Monday, CEO David Ellison said the two streaming services are complementary, and this was the “first step” toward offering a one-stop streaming service.
The key quote:
“This is a growth story; we are shifting from legacy media to building a next-generation media and entertainment company powered by creativity and technology,” said Ynon Kreiz, Skydance’s co-chief executive officer.
