Skydance Offers Voluntary Buyouts as Paramount-Warner Bros. Integration Begins

Skydance Corp. is offering one-time voluntary buyouts to eligible employees, nearly three weeks after closing its $111-billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The David Ellison-led company sent a memo Monday stating that qualifying employees would receive individual communication from the company. The memo, from Ellison and Co-CEO Ynon Kreiz, did not specify a target number of buyouts. It also said employees across Skydance will be required to return to the office five days a week under a phased approach by location. The buyouts arrive as the combined company is expected to lay off hundreds or thousands of workers during integration. Skydance carries more than $80 billion in debt from the deal; Paramount had pledged $6 billion in cost cuts over three years, including $2 billion within one year. Ellison said synergies would come primarily from technology, procurement and real estate rather than labor, while pledging at least $30 billion annually in content investment. An August report estimated 4,500 Los Angeles County jobs could be eliminated over three years.