Elon Musk has invested about $1 billion in David Ellison’s Skydance as the newly renamed company moves to combine Paramount and Warner Bros. after the Oct. 6 closing. Co-CEOs David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz must integrate two major film studios, the Paramount+ and HBO Max streaming services, multiple TV networks and two news divisions while pursuing roughly $6 billion in cost savings over three years. Skydance faces nearly $80 billion of debt, and Musk’s commitment is part of a broader push to raise equity; company and Musk representatives did not immediately comment and shares slipped about 1%.
The investment also underscores long-standing financial ties between Musk and Larry Ellison: Larry Ellison invested $1 billion in Musk’s 2022 purchase of Twitter (now X), has backed Tesla and served on its board, and personally guaranteed more than $40 billion of equity financing connected to Paramount’s takeover effort. Musk’s capital injection strengthens Skydance’s balance sheet as leadership attempts a complex studio and streaming integration while targeting aggressive cost reductions.
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