Skydance mandates five-day office week and offers employee buyouts

Following its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, Skydance has announced a major restructuring plan aimed at achieving over $6 billion in annual cost savings within three years. In an internal memorandum, Chairman and CEO David Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz introduced a mandatory five-day-a-week in-office work policy, which will be implemented in phases by location.

To facilitate the integration of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, the company is also launching a one-time voluntary buyout (VBO) program. Eligible employees will receive individualized offers with specific financial terms and a window to decide whether to accept. While the company anticipates layoffs as part of the merger process, leadership indicated that much of the targeted savings is expected to come from non-labor sources, such as merging streaming technologies and rationalizing real estate footprints.

The combined entity, which includes brands like Paramount Pictures, CBS, HBO, and CNN, is expected to manage approximately $80 billion in debt. Executives stated that the return-to-office mandate is intended to foster in-person collaboration and build a unified company culture.