Skydance has drawn $4 billion in new equity financing from RedBird Capital Partners, which is committing a total of $6 billion into the combined company, a personal familiar with the situation tells The Hollywood Reporter.
In a statement announcing the merger’s close, RedBird founder Gerry Cardinale said Skydance will “build a stronger Hollywood” in a “media landscape that’s undergoing transformation change.”
“This is a defining moment for the industry,” he added.
David Ellison’s Paramount on Tuesday completed its $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. The deal marries two legacy film studios, a massive portfolio of TV networks, large streaming services and multiple news organizations into a media and entertainment colossus that’s looking to compete against the top-tier of Hollywood studios like Netflix and Disney, plus tech giants like Amazon and Google.
The merger was initially backed by roughly $47 billion in equity financing from Oracle scion Larry Ellison and RedBird. That financing was later spread among a larger group of investors, including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
RedBird’s relationship with Ellison goes back to 2019, when RedBird first invested $275 million into Skydance. The firm, alongside the Ellison family, later formed the investor group that agreed to acquire National Amusements and combine Skydance with Paramount.
Cardinale has said RedBird’s initial $2 billion commitment to the deal was the largest private equity investment in a Hollywood studio. The additional financing fortifies its position as one of two investors alongside the Ellison family controlling Paramount’s voting stock.
The new company is called Skydance. Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz face paying down more than $80 billion in debt from the deal.
RedBird is active in the media, entertainment and sports space, having backed Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity, Banijay, Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro’s Mari, EverPass Media, Everwonder, Front Office Sports, Puck and the United Football League, among many others.
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