David Ellison is telling Paramount Skydance staffers to “keep up the great work” as the company counts down the days until its mega-deal with Warner Bros. Discovery.
The Paramount CEO addressed employees after the company posted a solid first-quarter earnings report on Monday, saying that its tech-forward strategy is bearing fruit ahead of its planned WBD acquisition, which could close as soon as this fall.
“We’re making meaningful strides to strengthen our products, processes and systems through technology,” Ellison told employees in a memo, which was obtained by Business Insider.
Ellison cited several examples of how Paramount is embracing tech, like short-form video on Paramount+, better recommendations in streaming, and “enhanced mobile experiences.” While Ellison didn’t elaborate on that last point, the company said in its shareholder letter that it’s planning to put polling and stats on Paramount+, as Business Insider previously reported.
Paramount is also using “code-assist technologies that are delivering significant productivity gains,” Ellison said. (Disney tech employees are also using AI coding tools to get more done, with some super-users turning to chatbots tens of thousands of times a month.)
The biggest development at Paramount is its plan to buy WBD, which would give it control of the Warner Bros. studio, HBO, and cable networks like CNN and TNT. WBD shareholders signed off on the deal in late April, though it still needs official regulatory approval in the US and abroad.
“While there is still work to be done, we are confident in our path forward and excited about the opportunities this combination will create,” Ellison said of the WBD deal in the memo.
Buying WBD and integrating HBO Max into Paramount+, which is joining its tech stack with free streamer Pluto TV, would give Paramount’s streaming business much-needed scale.
Paramount said its namesake streamer has 79.6 million subscribers, as of the first quarter, 700,000 more customers than at the end of 2025. Paramount+ brought on about 1 million signups on the day of its first UFC match, Business Insider reported in January.
WBD had 131.6 million streaming customers as of its latest quarter.
Ellison must thread the needle between embracing tech, investing in content, and paying down the tens of billions of dollars in debt that Paramount would take on if it bought WBD.
“The key question remains whether technological advancement can generate sufficient cost savings before the company is forced to pull back on content investment — potentially undermining the very revenue drivers it is trying to build,” media analyst Robert Fishman of MoffettNathanson wrote in a Tuesday note.
Paramount shares initially rose over 3% in after-hours on Monday, before sliding more than 6% in early trading on Tuesday.
Read Ellison’s full memo to Paramount staffers here:
Team, We’ve had a strong start to our first full year as Paramount Skydance, and we’re seeing great momentum across the business. That’s the result of a clear strategy, strong leadership at all levels and your hard work, collaboration and commitment. Your accomplishments and the steady progress we’re making as a company were highlighted in today’s 1st quarter earnings call. As I’ve mentioned previously, these accomplishments include: Scream 7, which became the highest-grossing installment in the franchise’s 30-year history; Landman, now the most-watched series in Paramount+ history; the continued strength of CBS, with 13 of the top 20 primetime series — including all four of the top new shows, an achievement no broadcast network has matched since the early 1990s; more than 10 million households streaming over 100 million hours of UFC programming on Paramount+; and CBS Sports delivering the most-watched final round of the Masters in over a decade. At the same time, we’re making meaningful strides to strengthen our products, processes and systems through technology with new features such as enhanced mobile experiences, short-form video, more personalized recommendations designed to drive deeper engagement and monetization and code-assist technologies that are delivering significant productivity gains. We’re proud of these and many other achievements, as well as the direction we’re heading as we build a next generation media and entertainment company. I also know there’s a lot of interest in our deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. I’m pleased to report that we are well into the regulatory process, with no remaining statutory impediments in the U.S., and we continue to make progress internationally. Additionally, as you’ve heard, on April 23, WBD shareholders voted to approve the transaction — an important milestone. While there is still work to be done, we are confident in our path forward and excited about the opportunities this combination will create. Together, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery will be well positioned to tell even more compelling stories — both original and from an extraordinary library of IP — and share them with an even broader audience around the world. We couldn’t be more excited for all that’s ahead. In the coming weeks, we’ll launch a centralized internal hub as a single site for integration updates, FAQs and key information. You’ll receive an email later this month introducing the site. You should have also begun receiving our new weekly newsletter, Aim High, which highlights achievements across the business and shares timely, practical updates for employees. I encourage you to review our shareholder letter for more details on our quarter. A replay of the earnings call will be available shortly on our Investor Relations site. We look forward to building on the momentum. Keep up the great work. Let’s go! Best, David
