Make California Post a Preferred Source The iconic Warner Bros. water tower in Burbank has a new look following the completion of Paramount’s $81 billion megamerger with Warner Bros. Discovery.
The blockbuster deal officially closed Tuesday, with CEO David Ellison naming the combined media giant Skydance after the production company he founded in 2006.
Shortly after the announcement, pictures surfaced showing workers adding the message “A Skydance Corporation” to the tower that has stood on the legendary Warner Bros. lot for nearly a century.
The 133-foot water tower was built in 1927 and once had the capacity to hold 100,000 gallons of water.
It was moved from its original location near the Warner Bros. Fire Department following the 1933 Long Beach earthquake over fears it could topple and disrupt emergency services.
The tower has appeared in numerous Warner Bros. productions over the years and became a prominent part of the studio’s hit animated series “Animaniacs,” which ran in the 1990s.
For decades, it stood over the Burbank lot bearing little more than the giant yellow-and-blue Warner Bros. shield, the WB initials and the words Warner Bros. Studios.
Water towers were common on Hollywood studio lots a century ago.
Paramount Pictures also built a water tower on its Hollywood lot in 1927. The 145-foot tower got its own Skydance makeover last year following Ellison’s acquisition of Paramount Global in August 2025, with the words “A Skydance Corporation,” according to Variety.
The new media company will include two historic film studios and their Hollywood lots; major streaming services HBO Max and Paramount+; CNN and CBS News; live sports channels including CBS Sports and TNT Sports; and thousands of iconic movie titles.
The newly-combined company boasts nearly $70 billion in revenue and expects to generate more than $10 billion in free cash flow by 2030, according to a press release.
The deal crossed the finish line after settling an antitrust lawsuit brought by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 11 other lefty AGs, who warned the deal could crush competition, raise consumer prices, limit choices and hurt workers.
Ellison was able to smooth things over with Bonta after pledging to spend an additional $1.5 billion on domestic production over the next five years and release 30 high-quality theatrical films each year.
Before facing the state’s antitrust challenge, Paramount was locked in a monthslong bidding war with streaming giant Netflix last year.
Warner Bros. had initially accepted an offer from Netflix, calling the streamer its preferred partner.
But in February, Paramount emerged victorious with a higher-value offer that included a costly “ticking fee” requiring Ellison to pay $7 million for each day the deal remained incomplete after Oct. 1.
The mega deal wasn’t completed until Sunday, four days after the deadline, leaving it unclear whether Ellison will have to cough up the roughly $28 million penalty.
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