Skydance Media scores about $1 billion from Elon Musk
Elon Musk may be sitting on a hefty slice of Skydance — the kind that comes with a jaw-dropping price tag.
Roughly $1 billion from Elon Musk is headed to Skydance , part of a fresh equity push as the newly expanded company trims costs and knits together a sprawling empire, Semafor reported. An anonymous source told the outlet the investment is one piece of a larger fundraising effort now underway.
The cash comes as Skydance moves through a massive consolidation phase that followed the October 6 close of its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, according to the report. Co-CEOs David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz are now dealing with a complicated to-do list that spans film, TV and streaming under one banner.
- Film studios: Paramount and Warner Bros.
- Streamers: Paramount+ and HBO Max
- TV networks: an extensive cable and broadcast portfolio
- News: two major divisions now under one roof
“Musk has invested approximately $1 billion into Skydance,” Semafor reported, citing a person familiar with the deal.
Semafor also noted that Paramount explored bringing Musk on as an equity investor in September. Musk has publicly praised the Ellison family and Skydance, and his arrival has already kicked up speculation about possible tie-ins with his satellite internet company, Starlink.
The move underscores a long-standing connection between Musk and Larry Ellison, Oracle’s co-founder and David Ellison’s father. Larry Ellison put $1 billion into Musk’s 2022 purchase of Twitter (now X), invested in Tesla in 2018, and served on Tesla’s board. According to the report, he also personally guaranteed upwards of $40 billion in equity financing that helped power the recent studio consolidation.
Skydance’s market mood has been choppy: the company’s shares have slipped since it rolled out 471 million warrants that let longtime holders of Paramount Skydance PSKY Class B stock buy into the new entity. On the consumer side, the first noticeable pricing change since the takeover has been on Discovery+, which hiked subscription rates; other Skydance-owned streamers haven’t followed suit so far.
Skydance is continuing to line up additional equity investors as integration work continues, per Semafor.