David Ellison

American film producer and media proprietor (born 1983)

David Ferris Ellison (born January 9, 1983) is an American film producer, media proprietor, and the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Skydance Corporation. Initially an actor, he founded the film and television production company Skydance Media in 2006 and later merged it with the media company Paramount Global, forming Paramount Skydance in 2025.2

From Wikipedia’s article on David Ellison (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Jan 9, 1983.1

About

Paramount Skydance later acquired all assets of Warner Bros. Discovery in 2026, and the company was renamed as Skydance Corporation. He is the son of Oracle Corporation co-founder Larry Ellison.

Ellison founded Skydance and was its CEO from 2006 until 2025, and produced the films Terminator Genisys, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (both 2015), Life (2017), and Top Gun: Maverick (2022), with the latter nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

In 2025, under Ellison's leadership, Skydance acquired the media company Paramount Global. An ally of President Donald Trump, Ellison hand-picked political commentator Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News and acquired her digital news outlet The Free Press after the second Trump administration approved the merger of Skydance and Paramount Global in 2025. Shortly after the completion of the merger, Ellison launched a successful hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, with the acquisition being completed in October 2026.

From Wikipedia’s article on David Ellison, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

  • Date not recordedUniversity of Southern California3
  • Date not recordedPepperdine University3
  • Date not recordedSacred Heart Preparatory3

Ellison was born on January 9, 1983, in Santa Clara County, California. He is the son of billionaire Oracle Corporation co-founder and chairman Larry Ellison and his third wife, Barbara Boothe Ellison. His father is of Italian and Jewish heritage. Ellison grew up in Woodside, California, with his mother, who nurtured his love for film. His father was not a day-to-day presence in his early life, but when David Ellison turned 13, his father bought him his own Katana stunt plane, and they bonded piloting and doing stunts. He attended Pepperdine University and the University of Southern California (USC). He has one sister, film producer Megan Ellison, who founded Annapurna Pictures.

From Wikipedia’s article on David Ellison (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: actor, aircraft pilot, film producer, media proprietor, executive producer.10

  • Since 2025Chief executive officer, Skydance Corporation8
  • Since 2025Chairperson of the executive board, Skydance Corporation8
  • Date not recordedFounded Skydance Corporation4
  • Date not recordedFounded Skydance Media5
  • Date not recordedFounded Skydance Animation6
  • Date not recordedChief executive, Paramount Global7
  • Date not recordedChair, Paramount Global9

Known for: Skydance Media.11

Ellison's career started in acting. In 2005 he dropped out of USC film school to act in his first major film, Flyboys. His father heavily financed the film. It was widely considered a failure. Ellison also acted in Hole in One and Little Fish, Strange Pond before giving up his acting ambitions and going into the business side of the entertainment industry.

Skydance Media, LLC

Ellison was influenced by businessman Steve Jobs, a friend of his father, and pitched Jobs his idea for Skydance Media, before revising his idea based on Jobs' advice. His father invested heavily in the company and became the largest shareholder. The company's films include Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Annihilation, World War Z, True Grit, Jack Reacher, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Star Trek Beyond. Ellison was named to Variety's Dealmaker list for 2010 and the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2011. Ellison was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for co-producing Top Gun: Maverick. Skydance Media expanded in 2013 with the launch of its television division. He has executive-produced shows such as Altered Carbon and Grace and Frankie. In 2014, Ellison launched a line of men's clothing, the "LANAI Collection".

In 2017, Ellison helped launch Skydance Animation in partnership with Spain's Ilion Animation Studios. In 2019, Ellison hired former Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios chief creative officer John Lasseter to run Skydance Animation.

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Paramount Skydance Corporation

In January 2024, it was reported that Ellison was interested in merging Skydance Media with Paramount Global and buying the latter's parent company National Amusements from Shari Redstone. The US$8 billion deal relied heavily on a personal $6 billion investment by Ellison's father, Larry Ellison. The merger received approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under the second Donald Trump administration in July 2025. The merger was completed by August 7, 2025, and Paramount Skydance Corporation was formed. Ellison is chairman and CEO of the merged company.

Following the merger, the company made changes to CBS News which Le Monde called "conservative-friendly". The company bought Bari Weiss's news outlet The Free Press, and Ellison appointed Weiss as CBS News' editor-in-chief. Many sources have characterized Weiss as conservative leaning despite her denying this label. To critics, the appointment was seen as an effort to steer CBS in a direction more aligned with the administration of President Donald Trump. Shortly into her tenure, Weiss controversially delayed the airing of a 60 Minutes story on the Trump administration's deportations to Venezuela. The report aired the following month with only minor additional context.

Acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery

In September 2025, shortly after the formation of Paramount Skydance, it was reported that Ellison had started preparing a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). Following an auction process in December 2025, WBD entered into a merger agreement with Netflix, but Ellison sought to hinder the merger by launching a hostile takeover bid. The Wall Street Journal reported in December 2025 that Ellison had given assurances to President Donald Trump that if Paramount were to buy WBD, he would make major changes to CNN, a media organization that Trump has frequently criticized. Ellison worked with three sovereign wealth funds owned by Middle-Eastern governments, as well as Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, to finance his competing bid for WBD. As with the Paramount merger, Ellison's father, Larry Ellison, also played a significant role in the takeover of WBD, putting up $40.4 billion in equity financing as a personal guarantee. Defying historical precedent of non-involvement in mergers, Donald Trump personally involved himself in the merger evaluation. In February 2026, after Ellison raised his bid for the company, WBD concluded that it was a superior proposal to the Netflix deal. Netflix declined to raise its bid for the company and Paramount and WBD signed a definitive merger agreement shortly after, subject to approval by federal regulators. Ellison will continue his tenure as chairman and CEO of the combined company.

In April 2026, Ellison feted Donald Trump and senior Trump administration officials at an event titled, "honoring the Trump White House," in Washington D.C., alongside top executives and journalists from CBS News. Guests at the event included federal regulators who were overseeing the merger. On June 12, 2026, the U.S. Justice Department's Antitrust Division approved Paramount's $111 billion acquisition of WBD.

Paramount's attempt to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery faced antitrust challenges from a group of state attorneys general, which delayed the acquisition. The delay could add significant costs to the $110 billion deal. However, on September 21, 2026, Paramount ultimately settled with the state attorneys general, clearing the path for Paramount to complete the acquisition.

From Wikipedia’s article on David Ellison (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Personal life

  • BornJan 9, 1983, Santa Clara12
  • CitizenshipUnited States13
  • ResidenceWoodside14
  • SpouseSandra Lynn Modic married 201115

Ellison married Sandra Lynn Modic, an actress and singer, on October 1, 2011, in Palm Springs, California. They have two children.

Ellison is a licensed pilot with instrument ratings for helicopter aviation, aerobatics, commercial aviation, fixed-wing aircraft, and multi-engine aircraft. In 2003, aged 20, he was selected to perform as part of Sean D. Tucker's "Stars of Tomorrow" aerobatic team at the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) AirVenture Oshkosh.

Ellison and his father are close associates of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His father's first wife has described Larry as "an ardent Zionist" and Larry hosted Netanyahu on his Hawaiian island in 2021. Ellison once joined his father on a trip to Israel, posting a photo on Instagram from a dinner with Netanyahu where Ellison said he was "very grateful for everything [Netanyahu] has done and continues to do for the nation of Israel." After the October 7th attacks, Ellison declared that "Skydance stands with Israel."

Ellison is a member of the Producers Guild of America and Television Academy.

From Wikipedia’s article on David Ellison (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Politics

Ellison used to be a Democratic donor and said in 2022 that he is a "socially liberal person." He had a "good relationship" with former president of the United States, Joe Biden, and had donated $929,600 to his re-election campaign in 2024. But since 2025, Ellison has been described as an ally of current US president, Donald Trump. Trump has boasted about his friendship with Ellison and his father. Ellison was the guest of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham at Trump's 2026 state of the union address. However, after the merger between Paramount and Warner Bros., he later said that he doesn't have an "especially close relationship" with Trump, and had stated that it is "important to talk to everybody on both sides of the aisle", while also noting that he has an "good relationship" with Democratic governor of California, Gavin Newsom. He'd also backed CNN’s lawsuit against Trump for banning them, along with MS NOW and Politico, from entering the White House, saying that his newly-formed company, Skydance Corporation, is "going to make sure that CNN and CBS News are completely editorially independent."

From Wikipedia’s article on David Ellison (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

In the news

59 recent articles from 22 outlets we read name David Ellison. We match the full name, and check the article also names one of their companies or that they are well known.

  • After nearly buying Warner Bros., Netflix is laying off 1,000 workers. What happened?Los Angeles Times, leans left, Oct 15, 2026…business so we can keep delivering for our members, partners, employees, and investors,” they wrote. Paramount chief David Ellison, who has pursued Warner Bros.
  • Lisa Nandy ‘minded to intervene’ in Sky’s £1.6bn purchase of ITVThe Guardian US, left, Oct 15, 2026…The new company, now called Skydance, will have David Ellison, the son of a billionaire tech mogul, at its helm. Nandy also threatened to intervene in that deal, as the UK’s Channel 5 is also owned by Paramount. However, she eventually wave…
  • ‘Matchbox: The Movie’ is no match for the magic of the classic toy - The Boston GlobeBoston Globe, Oct 15, 2026…is a coproduction of Apple Original Films, Skydance Media (which means that Hollywood’s new grand high el supremo, David Ellison, has a producer credit), and Mattel Studios.
  • CNN signs multi-year AI partnership with GoogleKSL, Oct 15, 2026…across the network. The deal marks the first partnership announced since Skydance's merger with Paramount, under CEO David Ellison, who has sought to position the media group as a technology-driven business. As part of the deal, CNN will provide enhanced content rights for experimental features in Google's products. "Google's innovation with generative AI has changed how people discover information and content, and now those tools will help us explore new ways to discover and engage audiences," said Sam Felix, CNN's senior vice president of strategic partnerships and business development. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. CNN said the deal is in line with its strategy to protect its intellectual property, adding that it has multiple commercial partnerships and ongoing discussions with other industry players. The network operates television, streaming and digital news services worldwide, including CNN International and CNN Originals, as well as a direct-to-consumer subscription service and CNN Newsource. (Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
  • CNN signs multi-year AI partnership with GoogleSpokesman-Review, Oct 15, 2026…across the network. The deal marks the first partnership announced since Skydance’s merger with Paramount, under CEO David Ellison, who has sought to position the media group as a technology-driven business. As part of the deal, CNN will provide enhanced content rights for experimental features in Google’s products. “Google’s innovation with generative AI has changed how people discover information and content, and now those tools will help us explore new ways to discover and engage audiences,” said Sam Felix, CNN’s senior vice president of strategic partnerships and business development. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. CNN said the deal is in line with its strategy to protect its intellectual property, adding that it has multiple commercial partnerships and ongoing discussions with other industry players. The network operates television, streaming and digital news services worldwide, including CNN International and CNN Originals, as well as a direct-to-consumer subscription service and CNN Newsource.
  • How we lost our appetite for eat-the-rich satireThe Guardian US, left, Oct 14, 2026…Despite the not-so-secret allegiances of some studio heads – Skydance CEO David Ellison is an enthusiastic Trump backer – Hollywood creatives are aware of how detested among the public these figures are beyond their bases, and studios haven…
  • DC Studios debuts ‘Clayface’ at LA premiere as $40M R-rated villain pic gets ‘Obsession’-like buzz onlinePage Six, Oct 14, 2026…(Technically, Paramount’s “Street Fighter” will mark the first post-merger release.) Skydance CEO David Ellison did not make it to the bow, or its after-party in the theater’s basement, (aptly dubbed Club Vesuvius in a nod to the film’s hot…
  • How Skydance faces titanic battle against crushing debt after Ellison takeoverPage Six, Oct 14, 2026…David Ellison won the battle for Warner Bros., but the war is just beginning. Ellison and his co-CEO Ynon Kreiz must get through the wolves of Wall Street to make the finances of smashing together two studios in an eye-popping $110 billion…
  • Skydance Shares Skid Down 25% After Company Issues 471 Million Stock Warrants to Paramount InvestorsVariety, Oct 14, 2026…The drop came as the Skydance, led by chairman and CEO David Ellison, distributed about 471 million warrants giving holders of Paramount Skydance’s PSKY Class B shares the option to purchase stock in the new company. As of 11 a.m.
  • Sir Trevor Phillips urges CBS News colleagues to give critics blunt riposteThe Guardian US, left, Oct 14, 2026…It came after its billionaire owner, David Ellison, installed the opinion journalist and broadcast newcomer Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief in a move that shook staff. The Guardian, which first reported the Tuesday meeting, reviewed an audio…
More articles (49)

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