Elon Musk has invested roughly $1 billion in Skydance, according to a person familiar with the matter, as the newly combined entertainment group seeks to raise equity and reduce costs.
The investment comes after Skydance completed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on 6 October. The combined company is now known as Skydance and brings together Paramount and Warner Bros., along with the Paramount+ and HBO Max streaming services.
Co-chief executives David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz are overseeing the integration of the film studios, streaming platforms, television networks and two news divisions, as well as the corporate operations supporting them.
Skydance has said it expects to achieve $6 billion in savings over three years. The company is also carrying nearly $80 billion in debt.
Musk’s commitment forms part of a broader effort by Skydance to secure equity investments. Representatives for Musk and Skydance did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Shares in Skydance fell by about 1% on Thursday.
The investment adds to a long-standing business relationship between Musk and the Ellison family. David Ellison’s father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, invested $1 billion in Musk’s 2022 purchase of Twitter, now known as X, and invested in Tesla in 2018, later serving on its board.
Larry Ellison also personally guaranteed more than $40 billion of equity financing for Paramount’s offer to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.
