Skydance’s top execs are thanking employees after a solid inaugural earnings report.
CEO David Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz sent an email to staffers after the Paramount side of Skydance reached its revenue goal and topped its profit projections in the third quarter — the first since the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery mega-deal last month.
“The progress we’ve made is a direct result of your contributions,” Ellison and Kreiz said in a post-earnings memo, which was obtained by Business Insider.
In the memo, Ellison and Kreiz reiterated their three goals:
- Establishing Skydance as the premier global content engine and the home of the world’s leading storytellers
- Accelerating our integrated direct-to-consumer platform
- Optimizing our highly profitable linear TV portfolio, anchored by CBS.
The Skydance CEOs expressed confidence that their new-look company has the size and library to compete with tech-savvy giants like Netflix and Google’s YouTube.
Skydance controls a slew of enviable, iconic assets, including the Warner Bros. studio, Paramount Pictures, HBO, CBS, CNN, Paramount+, HBO Max, Pluto TV, TNT, HGTV, and Comedy Central.
“We will lead in a crowded market by using our scale, assets and global reach to drive transformation and growth,” Ellison and Kreiz wrote.
However, investors aren’t sold on Skydance’s business so far.
Despite posting a solid report, shares slid 2% in after-hours trading after initially jumping over 4%. The stock has whipsawed in recent weeks, soaring over 8.5% on Monday after falling more than 11% from pre-merger levels.
Skydance’s success hinges on its ability to pay down its debt load of roughly $79 billion, a concern for some investors and analysts.
“The newly merged Skydance comes with massive debt that remains at the center of concern over the company’s ability to profitably grow,” Forrester media analyst Mike Proulx said in commentary ahead of Skydance’s earnings report.
Ellison’s company has said it plans to save $6 billion by buying WBD, and that the majority of those cost savings won’t come from layoffs. Still, employees are antsy about cuts and bracing for stiff internal competition as Paramount and WBD’s teams come together.
In late October, Skydance told employees to return to the office five days a week, or take a buyout offer, Business Insider has reported.
Read Ellison and Kreiz’s full memo below:
Read the original article on Business Insider
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