After months of legal maneuvering, takeover attempts, and corporate eye-gouging, the Warner Bros. Discovery-Paramount merger is finally complete. The $110 billion deal has finally closed, and the new company trades as Skydance Corp. (NYSE: SKYD). But while the deal's consummation hogs the headlines, the real story is buried in the balance sheet. Acquiring Warner Bros. required Paramount to take on a tremendous amount of debt, and reducing that leverage through cost savings is now CEO David Ellison’s most important job. The agreement may be done, but the bill is still coming due. Here’s what Skydance owns, what it owes, and how the bull and bear cases may unfold over the next year.
