Skydance Corp. began trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SKYD, and the market’s first verdict was cautious: shares closed at $9.51, down 2.7% in the session. The debut followed the closing of the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, which created the new combined studio.
The session was choppy. The stock fell as much as 6% intraday and briefly touched a high of $9.84 before settling lower. Former Paramount Skydance Class B shares ended their Nasdaq listing as PSKY on Monday, Oct. 5, and SKYD trading began the next morning. As the deal closed, Warner Bros. Discovery shares ceased trading on Nasdaq, and holders received $31.01666668 per share in cash.
A $12 price runs through the deal
The first-day close matters because it sits below the $12 price embedded in the transaction. On Oct. 13, the company will distribute 471.3 million warrants to former PSKY Class B holders, each exercisable for one Skydance Class B share at $12 for up to 10 years. At $9.51, those warrants are underwater from the start. The same $12 price was used for the $47 billion equity syndicate backing the merger, which included RedBird Capital Partners, LionTree, the Ellison family and sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
David Ellison described the vision as an effort to “create a stronger competitor” that empowers creatives, entertains audiences and rewards shareholders. The market’s first session suggests investors want execution evidence before they match that price.
Fitch was already cautious
The share move did not happen in a vacuum. Fitch Ratings downgraded Skydance’s credit rating on Monday, one day before the close, pointing to materially higher leverage after the acquisition, significant execution and integration risks, and uncertainty about whether the company can reach its stated synergy targets. Fitch also noted structural pressure on linear TV revenue, streaming competition and hit-driven content risk.
For media planners and entertainment marketers, the early trading signal is a sentiment check rather than a verdict. The Oct. 13 warrant distribution will be a second data point: if the shares stay below $12, a key incentive tied to the merger remains underwater, and the market is effectively asking Skydance to prove its deleveraging plan. That is the metric to watch in the next quarter, not the day-one tape.
- SKYD closed at $9.51, down 2.7%, after trading as low as -6% and as high as $9.84.
- 471.3 million warrants go to PSKY holders on Oct. 13 at a $12 exercise price.
- Fitch downgraded the new entity before the close, citing leverage and integration risk.
Source: Variety
