Paramount Skydance is hauling a mountain of debt into credit markets to finance its Warner Bros. Discovery takeover, and the split between a sinking acquirer and a steady target tells a story about who is bearing the real risk here.

David Zaslav, four and a half years after closing the debt-burdened deal that formed Warner Bros. Discovery, is bidding farewell to the company’s employees as it is about to get swallowed up by David Ellison’s Paramount — to create a media giant saddled with even more debt.