Skydance and Paramount officially closed their US$8-billion merger on Thursday – kicking off the reign of a new entertainment giant after a contentious, over year-long endeavor to get the transaction over the finish line.

The new company – which will trade under the “PSKY” ticker on Wall Street – brings Paramount’s legacy Hollywood footprint, major TV networks like CBS and MTV, streaming services and more under the roof of a new power player: billionaire Skydance founder David Ellison.

“Today marks an exciting and pivotal moment as we prepare to bring Paramount’s legacy as a Hollywood institution into the future of entertainment,” Ellison, who is now Chairman and CEO of Paramount, a Skydance Corporation, said in a statement. He added that he aims to “honor exceptional storytelling while modernizing how we make and deliver content.”

The merger’s close came just two weeks after it received regulatory approval from the Trump administration. While now a done deal, the path towards that approval was far from smooth sailing. Months of scrutiny and turmoil surrounded the transaction – particularly amid President Donald Trump’s legal battle with “60 Minutes,” the crown jewel of Paramount-owned broadcast network CBS. With the specter of the Trump administration potentially blocking the hard-fought deal with Skydance, Paramount agreed to pay a US$16-million settlement to the president in early July.

Critics of the settlement lambasted it as a veiled bribe to appease Trump, amid rising alarm over editorial independence overall. Further outrage also emerged after CBS said it was canceling Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” just days after the comedian sharply criticized the parent company’s settlement on air. Paramount cited financial reasons, but big names both within and outside the company have questioned those motives.