On Thursday morning the ornate marble lobby of the New York Stock Exchange in lower Manhattan was turned into a museum of Hollywood history.
Visitors checking in to the reception desk were greeted by an Oscar statuette, for best picture, presented to Paramount Pictures for Forrest Gump in 1995. Placed next to the Oscar on the reception area? Worn down Nike sneakers and a trucker hat worn by Tom Hanks in the film as he ran across America.
It was a real-world collision of highbrow and lowbrow: Worn down grimy sneakers and a gold statue, welcoming invited guests to capitalism’s unofficial capital.
The mini-museum inside the NYSE (Harry Potter’s robe and glasses! Maverick’s helmet from Tom Gun! Props from Game of Thrones, Joker, Barbie, The Amazing Race, Landman, Superman, Star Trek and more) were installed for one day only: Skydance was ringing the opening bell.
One floor up from the lobby, on the floor of the exchange, Skydance CEO David Ellison, co-CEO Ynon Kreiz and the entire senior leadership team gathered to ring the opening bell. But first, there was the CNBC hit.
CNBC’s David Faber hosted Ellison and Kreiz on the floor of the exchange shortly after 9 a.m.
Ellison was taking it all in.
“The last time we were here was when we launched the hostile on your show, so to come full-circle today, is really quite remarkable,” he told Faber.
From the CNBC, it was up to the balcony, where they rang the opening bell at 9:30 a.m. on the dot, stopping afterward for celebratory photos.
They then walked down to the floor, where Citadel Securities trader Peter Giacchi walked them through the “first trade.”
It’s all a bit of kabuki theater, of course. Skydance is already trading, and the market had opened a few minutes before, but he guided them through a block trade of Skydance stock, as a gold bell was placed in front of the Citadel Securities booth for Ellison, Kreiz and other executives to ring by hand, as photographers snapped away.
Skydance needs Wall Street to buy in. The banks lined up the financing, but the company needs to grow its share price. The ceremony Thursday morning was mostly for the cameras, but as anyone who has rang an opening bell will tell you, it carries with it weight.
Ellison and Kreiz need to find $6 billion in synergies, sooner rather than later (Kreiz reiterated Thursday morning that most of those synergies will not come from staff reductions), and they need to grow a business that still has most of its revenue from declining linear TV assets.
The executives said that they believe they have multiple pathways to get there. Growing the content output, reducing costs, rebuilding its technology stack, moving faster. That’s all well and good, but the street remains skeptical.
That’s why Disney, Comcast and Netflix are flat or down. The execution will be the key, and the window to executive is narrowing.
Hollywood is synonymous with show business. The studios and networks and streamers and channels are in the business of showing consumers engaging content.
For Ellison, Kreiz and the senior team at Skydance the ceremonial part of the job is over. They’ve been talking about their plans, but the telling part is easy. They are in the show business, and now they need to show that it can work.
Wall Street is watching.
