Shares of Paramount Skydance Corporation (NYSE: SKYD) fell 22.33% to $7.05 on Wednesday, October 14, a decline of $2.03 per share, as approximately 471 million warrants began trading separately from the company's common stock. The separation followed Skydance's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery and prompted an adjustment to the stock's reference price on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The company simultaneously outlined the exchange's share-price adjustment and how the warrant distribution factors into its roughly $46.6 billion equity valuation.

Skydance Stock Drops as 471 Million Warrants Begin Trading

Skydance completed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on October 6, 2026, expanding its global entertainment operations. As part of the transaction, the company issued warrants to eligible public shareholders on October 13. The distribution covered approximately 9% of the company's outstanding Class B common shares, while other shareholders received no warrants.

Each eligible shareholder received one warrant for every Class B share held on the October 5 record date. Under their terms, the warrants give holders the right to purchase one additional Class B common share. Warrants are a category of security that entitles holders to buy shares of a company's stock, and once listed separately they trade independently of the underlying common shares. The NYSE began trading the new securities under the ticker SKYD.WS on October 13.

October 14 marked the ex-dividend date, formally separating the warrant distribution from the underlying common shares. An ex-dividend date is the point at which begin trading without the entitlement to a pending distribution, a standard convention exchanges use to detach distributions from the underlying stock. SKYD shares and SKYD.WS warrants now trade independently, allowing the market to establish separate prices for each security and to value the common equity and the warrant instruments on a standalone basis. Skydance shares ended Wednesday at $7.05, below the NYSE's adjusted reference price of approximately $9.07.

NYSE Adjusts Skydance Share Price Following Warrant Distribution

On October 13, the NYSE announced a $0.19368 adjustment to Skydance's Class B common stock reference price. The adjustment reduced the reference value from approximately $9.27 to $9.07 ahead of separate trading, with the exchange basing its calculation on the warrants' official closing price of $2.20 that day. Adjusting a reference price in this way is standard exchange practice, giving the stock a consistent starting point once a distribution begins trading separately from the shares.

Rather than deducting the full warrant price from every common share, the NYSE applied the adjustment proportionally. Approximately 471 million eligible shares received warrants, compared with about 5 billion Class B shares outstanding, and the exchange calculated the adjustment using the eligible shares' proportion of the company's outstanding stock.

Skydance's illustrative figures placed its market capitalization at $46.6 billion before the warrant separation. Following the adjustment, the company's calculations showed common share market capitalization declining to approximately $45.6 billion. The new warrants represented approximately $1 billion in additional value, maintaining the illustrative combined equity valuation at $46.6 billion.

Warner Bros. Acquisition Expands Skydance Entertainment Portfolio

The Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition brought several major entertainment businesses into Skydance's existing corporate structure. These include Warner Bros., HBO, HBO Max, CNN, and popular television brands across entertainment and factual programming. The combined company operates across studios, direct-to-consumer services, and traditional television media.

Skydance's portfolio also includes Paramount, CBS, Paramount+, Pluto TV, Nickelodeon, MTV, and Comedy Central. These businesses provide film production, streaming distribution, television programming, sports coverage, and advertising services, giving the company operations across several major segments of the global entertainment market.

The warrant distribution represents a separate financial development following the acquisition rather than another operating transaction. Although the reference-price adjustment accounted for approximately $1 billion in warrant value, Wednesday's stock decline extended beyond that calculation. SKYD closed at $7.05, while the company continued trading under its expanded entertainment structure.

This article is based on reporting from Blockonomi.