The story
Founded by David Ellison in 2006, in Santa Monica.1
Formation
Skydance Productions was formed in 2006 by David Ellison, son of Larry Ellison, co-founder and then-CEO of the Oracle Corporation. David, a pilot, had an interest in aviation and took inspiration for the company name from flying aerobatics known as "skydancing". The firm's first film was Flyboys in 2006 which starred David and was co-financed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
In the fall of 2009, Skydance and Paramount Pictures signed a five-year co-financing, production and distribution agreement, with Paramount holding an additional option of distribution. Before August 2010, Skydance hired Dana Goldberg, formerly of Village Roadshow Pictures, to oversee development and production as chief creative officer. In August 2010, with the Paramount partnership and an equity investment by Larry, who was then the sixth richest person in the world, Skydance raised $350 million in equity and credit to co-finance its films.
On October 25, 2011, Skydance tried to sign its own first production client with Alex Kurtzman and the late Roberto Orci of K/O Paper Products, but the deal never materialized.
Expansion
On May 1, 2013, Skydance launched Skydance Television, hiring Marcy Ross as division president. In 2014, Jesse Sisgold joined Skydance, titled President of Business Affairs & Strategic Planning; later that year he was promoted to chief operating officer (COO). In 2017, he was promoted to president, while continuing as COO. In March 2014, Don Granger joined the company as executive vice president of Feature Productions, a newly created position, reporting to Goldberg.. In March 2015, Anne Globe joined the company as chief marketing officer.
Later in 2015, Skydance raised $700 million in new financing, consisting of $200 million in equity from a group of investors and a $500 million line of credit from J.P. Morgan Chase. Skydance renewed its slate deal with Paramount in the summer of 2013 for four more years.
On May 3, 2016, Skydance launched the Skydance Interactive division following the acquisition of The Workshop Entertainment and announced in January 2017 for a new story-driven virtual reality game titled Archangel. Skydance also created a production label named Uncharted in December 2016 to house content which falls outside of the action, sci-fi, or fantasy genres. It was also in 2016 that Skydance Productions re-branded to "Skydance Media".
On March 16, 2017, Skydance launched the Skydance Animation division by forming a multi-year partnership with Madrid-based Ilion Animation Studios. In August 2017, Skydance and Paramount renewed their slate deal for another four years to 2021, with the addition of Skydance's animated films for distribution.
On January 25, 2018, Tencent bought a 5% to 10% minority stake. Jun Oh was hired by Skydance Media as head of theatrical, interactive and legal affairs in October 2018. In February 2020, RedBird Capital Partners and CJ ENM invested in the company. In April 2020, Skydance Media named veteran entertainment executive Stephanie Kyoko McKinnon to the newly created post of general counsel. On October 20, 2021, Skydance announced Skydance Sports, a new division led by Jon Weinbach that would produce sports-themed content.
Read the full text
In January 2022, Skydance reached a non-exclusive multi-year first-look deal with Apple Original Films for a slate of live-action films. Variety reported that the agreement called for two films per-year at a budget of at least $125 million each, and Skydance receiving a payout of at least $25 million per-film. Skydance would also retain the intellectual property rights to the films produced under the agreement, and would still be allowed to work with other distributors.
On October 13, 2022, Skydance completed a $400 million strategic investment round which was led by KKR, a first-time investor, and joined by the Ellison family who are majority shareholders. By April 13, 2023, Skydance Media backed a new venture from country star Tim McGraw based in Nashville called "Down Home"; with two scripted series in development, along with plans on features and animation to follow. On July 7, Skydance brought a new $1 billion credit facility, giving the film and television studio enhanced flexibility to invest in its business lines.
Merger with Paramount Global
In January 2024, it was reported that David Ellison was interested in buying Paramount Global's parent company National Amusements from Shari Redstone. Skydance held exclusive talks with Paramount on a merger, but the window expired with no deal in place. An independent committee representing Paramount would go on to recommend a revised offer from Ellison that would see Skydance purchase National Amusements for $2 billion. In June 2024, CNBC reported that Skydance and Paramount agreed to terms on a merger, which was awaiting approval from National Amusements.
After it was reported on June 11 that merger talks had fallen apart, negotiations between the two were reported to have restarted on July 2, and Skydance was reported to have reached a preliminary agreement. On July 7, Ellison officially announced his intent for Skydance to take over Paramount Global in an $8 billion deal, after having received approval from a special board committee. The deal will be structured so that a group of investors from Skydance will pay $2.4 billion in cash to purchase National Amusements, and Paramount Global will pay its Class A and Class B stockholders $4.5 billion in cash and shares. Paramount would add $1.5 billion in primary capital to its balance sheet. The second phase will see an all-stock merger between Skydance Media and Paramount, valued at $4.75 billion. Paramount Global would have 45 days to look for better or matching offers from other bidders before finalizing.
On July 24, 2025, the FCC approved the merger. The merger closed on August 7, 2025.
After the merger of Skydance Media, National Amusements and Paramount Global, Paramount Skydance (now known as Skydance Corporation) was formed as the newly merged entity on August 7, 2025, with David Ellison serving as the chairman and CEO of the company. Besides serving as the corporate name of the combined entity, the Skydance brand continues to remain active across several divisions (like Skydance Animation or Skydance Sports), and as a vanity card used for any upcoming films produced by David Ellison.
From Wikipedia’s article on Skydance Media, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4