Thirteen months after David Ellison and Shari Redstone hashed out an $8 billion megadeal that would shift ownership of Paramount Global from the heir of a media mogul to the heir of a tech mogul, that merger finally closed on Thursday. As the Skydance team, led by Ellison as CEO and former NBCUniversal exec Jeff Shell as president, settles in,...

Combining entertainment and technology in a new Hollywood giant is paramount for David Ellison. His Skydance Media has closed its takeover, unveiled in July 2024, of Paramount Global to form what the merger partners have called a next-generation media and technology leader, positioned to win in todays rapidly transforming media landscape. Ellison authored an open letter to shareholders, employees and...

Warner Music Group swung to a net loss of $16 million in the third quarter after reporting net income of $141 million a year earlier. The company attributed the net loss to about $9 million in expenses related to the departure of the companys CFO Bryan Castellani, an increase in restructuring and impairment charges, an increase in amortization expenses, the...

Dicks Sporting Goods is launching its own in-house entertainment studio to get closer to sports fans with original unscripted series to fuel their own athletic passions. Cookie Jar A Dream Studios, a new content and production studio to lean into unscripted sports themed series, follows the retailer using Hollywood production partners and filmmakers to tell stories through the lens of...

Warner Bros. Discovery reported Q2 earnings Thursday that were turbocharged by its studio business, even as its streaming business continued to its growth trajectory, and with linear TV still struggling in a tough environment. The company reported revenue of $9.8 billion, up modestly from the same quarter a year ago, with net income of $1.6 billion (compared to a loss...

Sony Pictures Entertainments operating income for the first quarter ended June 30, 2025 was up 76 percent to $129 million from $73 million in dollar terms for the comparable period a year before, with Q1 sales up 4 percent to $2.263 billion from $2.166 billion. SPE comprises the motion pictures division, television productions and media networks. The motion pictures unit...

Just hours after the company announced a blockbuster $1.6 billion deal with ESPN for the U.S. rights to its WWE PLEs (premium live events) TKO Group Holdings revealed Q2 earnings that showed substantial growth in both live events and partnerships, two areas that are key to the companys future. TKO reported revenue of $1.31 billion, up 10 percent from the...

Peacock may be going out on its back. With the WWEs premium live events (like WrestleMania, Royal Rumble and SummerSlam) ditching Peacock in favor of the upcoming new ESPN app and in favor of $325 million annually vs. $180 million the NBCUniversal streaming service has lost a(nother) major subscription-selling and churn-reducing property. NBCU had already taken a chair shot to...

Harvey Weinstein is suing the producers and managers of the Finding Neverland musical, accusing them of cutting him out of part of the tours proceeds. In a lawsuit filed in New York state court on Wednesday, Weinstein alleges NETworks Presentations, National Artists Management Company and FNL Touring secretly withheld $2.3 million from him in breach of their contract. This isnt...

Universal Pictures is taking a new approach to combat mass theft of its movies to teach artificial intelligence systems. Starting in June with How to Train Your Dragon, the studio has attached a legal warning at the end credits of its films stating that their titles may not be used to train AI. Its also appeared on Jurassic World Rebirth...

When David Ellison had an informal meeting with New York-based media executives at a restaurant in the city earlier this year introducing the Hollywood producer to the kind of people hed soon be communing with, the vibe was, to say the least, amiable. The Skydance founder was awaiting FCC approval on his bid to buy Paramount, and so he chatted...

As Disney prepares its future film slate, CEO Bob Iger said the company does not have a priority of creating new intellectual property versus releasing sequels or reboots. We continue to be focused on creating new IP. Obviously, thats of great value to us long term, but we also know that the popularity of our older IP remains significant, Iger...

The new Paramount Global has rounded out its executive ranks for business operations following the close of its merger with David Ellisons Skydance, which is expected to be finalized on Thursday. Don Granger will be president of its motion picture group and Matt Thunell will have the same role at Paramount Television Studios. Jane Wiseman will lead streaming originals from...