David Ellison
01Overview
David Ellison is worth an estimated $1.1 billion. That is a small fraction of the company he runs. Skydance Corporation, formed when Paramount Skydance completed its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery on October 6, 2026, was worth about $35.8 billion at the October 20, 2026 close of $7.10 a share, and Ellison holds about half of its voting power. But federal filings show the money behind most of those votes belongs to his father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
What we can tie to David himself is about $1.12 billion: an estimated $500 million from his trust's NetSuite shares, which Oracle bought in 2016; about $300 million, Forbes' estimate of his half of the Oracle stock his father set aside for him and his sister; half of the 76.2 million Skydance shares held by Skydance Entertainment Group, a company he manages, worth about $271 million; the $50 million cash bonus he earned for closing the Warner Bros. deal; and about $4 million of shares he owns directly. Forbes put him at more than $1 billion on October 6, 2026, but does not list him separately; it counts the family fortune under Larry.
The figure could move either way. Forbes reported in July 2025 that it is "unclear how that's split between father and son"; counting all of the Skydance Entertainment Group shares, plus about $88 million of unvested restricted stock, takes him to about $1.5 billion. Counting none of them leaves about $850 million. We place no value on his homes, which have never been publicly identified.
| Full name | David Ellison |
| Born | January 9, 1983, in California |
| Age | 43 |
| Parents | Larry Ellison, co-founder and executive chairman of Oracle, and Barbara Boothe |
| Sibling | Megan Ellison, founder of Annapurna Pictures |
| Spouse | Sandra Lynn Ellison (formerly Modic), a former actress and singer; married 2011 |
| Children | Two |
| Education | Attended the University of Southern California's film school; left without a degree in the mid-2000s |
| Residence | Los Angeles area |
| Source of wealth | Family trusts (Oracle and NetSuite stock) and Skydance; most of the money he controls is his father's |
02Published Estimates
| Source | Date | Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| DaveManuel.com | October 20, 2026 | $1.12B (range $0.85-1.5B) |
| Forbes | October 6, 2026 | More than $1 billion (not listed separately) |
| Forbes Real-Time, Larry Ellison and family | October 21, 2026 | $171B (the family fortune, counted under Larry) |
Forbes credits a family fortune to the person who made it, so David Ellison has no ranking of his own; his money sits inside the "Larry Ellison and family" entry. In its October 6, 2026 article on his Warner Bros. closing award, Forbes said he is worth more than $1 billion, counting the merger payout, his existing Paramount stock and several homes, and that "nearly all the money is actually Larry's." We found no Bloomberg Billionaires Index figure for David Ellison. Our estimate lands close to Forbes because we count the same sources of money and treat his voting control as worth nothing on its own.
03Asset Breakdown
Ellison's own wealth is a mix of family trust money and Skydance stock. Skydance shares make up about a quarter of our total, so every $1 move in SKYD changes his net worth by about $39 million.
| Asset | Value |
|---|---|
| NetSuite sale proceeds (family trust)His trust received about $370 million before tax when Oracle bought NetSuite in 2016. Forbes estimates the money is worth about $500 million today | $0.500B |
| Oracle shares set aside by his fatherLarry Ellison set aside Oracle shares for David and his sister Megan decades ago. Forbes values David's half at about $300 million today, while noting the paper trail is unclear; the holding was last disclosed in 2012 | $0.300B |
| Skydance shares through Skydance Entertainment Group1Half of 76,210,742 SKYD shares held by Skydance Entertainment Group LLC, which he manages, per his August 2026 Form 4. Valued at the October 20, 2026 close of $7.10 | $0.271B |
| Warner Bros. closing bonusA $50 million cash bonus for completing the Warner Bros. Discovery takeover, payable within 30 days of the October 6, 2026 close. Shown before tax | $0.050B |
| Skydance shares owned directly508,959 SKYD shares after his August 2026 stock vesting, per his Form 4, at $7.10 | $0.004B |
| Unvested restricted stock units12,437,500 units that vest quarterly through 2031, including 8,333,333 from his $100 million Warner Bros. closing award; worth about $88 million at $7.10. Not counted until they vest | Not counted |
| Shares he controls but does not ownAs of February 2026 he was listed as the beneficial owner of 600.7 million Class B and all 31.5 million Class A shares, worth about $4.5 billion at $7.10, most of them held by companies owned by his father's trust. The total includes the Skydance Entertainment Group and direct shares counted above. The rest is not counted | Not counted |
| Homes and other assetsForbes counts several homes; none has been publicly identified or valued. He is a pilot, but no aircraft he currently owns has been reported | Not estimated |
| Total assets | $1.12B |
| Less: debtNo pledged shares or personal loans appear in his SEC filings; the 2026 share pledges reported by the Wall Street Journal were his father's | None reported |
| Estimated net worth | $1.12B |
Not subtracted: taxes on the $50 million bonus or on any future sale of shares. The NetSuite and Oracle figures are Forbes estimates of what that money is worth today; neither holding has been disclosed recently.
04Current Positions
| Organization | Role |
|---|---|
| Skydance Corporation (NYSE: SKYD) | Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerChairman and CEO of Paramount Skydance from August 7, 2025; Ynon Kreiz became co-CEO on October 5, 2026 |
| Skydance Media | FounderFounded 2006; became a full studio in 2010 with a Paramount co-financing deal |
| Ellison Medical Institute | Board memberHis father's medical research institute |
05Timeline
| 1983 | Born January 9 to Larry Ellison and Barbara Boothe; grows up partly on his mother's horse farm in Woodside, California. | |
| 1996 | Starts flying at 13 in a plane his father buys him; flies in air shows by 17. | |
| 2003 | Joins the Stars of Tomorrow aerobatic team at the Oshkosh air show, aged 20. | |
| 2006 | Stars in Flyboys, which cost about $60 million and grossed about $18 million. Founds Skydance after leaving USC's film school. | |
| 2010 | Skydance raises $350 million in equity and credit and co-finances Paramount films. True Grit earns 10 Oscar nominations. | $350M |
| 2011 | Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol grosses $694.7 million. Marries Sandra Lynn Modic. | |
| 2016 | His trust receives about $370 million before tax when Oracle buys NetSuite. | $370M |
| 2020 | RedBird Capital and CJ ENM invest $275 million in Skydance at a valuation of about $2.3 billion. | $2.3B |
| 2022 | Top Gun: Maverick grosses $1.5 billion and is nominated for Best Picture, with Ellison as a credited producer. A KKR-led round values Skydance at more than $4 billion. | $4B+ |
| 2024 | Agrees on July 7 to merge Skydance with Paramount Global, in a deal of about $8 billion that values Skydance at $4.75 billion. | $8B |
| 2025 | Becomes chairman and CEO of Paramount Skydance on August 7. Signs a $7.7 billion UFC rights deal and buys The Free Press for a reported $150 million. Bids for Warner Bros. Discovery; his father guarantees an initial $40.4 billion of the equity. | $63.2M pay |
| 2026 | Agrees on February 27 to buy Warner Bros. Discovery for $31 a share in cash, about $110 billion including debt. The deal closes October 6 and the company is renamed Skydance Corporation. He receives a $150 million closing award. | $150M |
06Votes Versus Money
Who controls Skydance
Skydance Corporation has two kinds of stock. Class A shares carry the votes; Class B shares, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange, carry none. As of February 2026, every Class A share was held by Harbor Lights Entertainment, a company David Ellison may be deemed to control as manager of family holding companies, and he was listed as the beneficial owner of 600.7 million Class B shares, 48.6% of that class at the time.
Those numbers describe control, not ownership. The Federal Communications Commission's April 2026 ruling on the Warner Bros. deal spells out the arrangement. The Pinnacle Media companies that hold most of the family's shares are owned through holding companies whose sole member is Sayonara LLC, which is owned by The Lawrence J. Ellison Revocable Trust. David is the sole manager of those holding companies and has 64.5% of their votes; his father's Sayonara has 35.5%. Company filings put the family at 77.5% of the votes and RedBird Capital at 22.5%, so by our calculation David directs about 50% of the total vote and Larry about 27.5%.
Who owns it
The equity is Larry's. Forbes reported in July 2025, from regulatory filings, that Larry "controls the purse strings and owns the equity," and Forbes said in October 2026 that "nearly all the money is actually Larry's." The family put about $17 billion into the Warner Bros. deal, buying about 1.4 billion shares at $12 each according to Bloomberg, and the company's closing filing shows the subscription rights belonged to Larry's trust, not to David. When the Wall Street Journal reported in October 2026 that bank loans had been secured with Paramount Skydance shares, the pledged shares were Larry's.
On our numbers, David personally owns about 38.6 million Skydance shares, under 1% of the company's roughly 5 billion shares, while controlling about half of its votes. That split is why his net worth is around $1 billion while the company he runs is worth more than $35 billion.
07Where His Own Money Came From
Family trusts
Ellison's personal fortune began with his father's company. Larry Ellison set aside Oracle shares for David and his sister Megan, and Forbes values David's half at about $300 million today, though it notes the paper trail is unclear and the trust's holding had shrunk below 1 million Oracle shares by 2012. His trust also held NetSuite, the business software company Larry backed; when Oracle bought NetSuite in 2016, the trust received about $370 million before tax, which Forbes puts at about $500 million today.
Pilot, actor, producer
He started flying at 13 in a plane his father bought him, soloed on his 16th birthday and was flying in air shows at 17. In 2003, aged 20, he joined the Stars of Tomorrow aerobatic team at the Oshkosh air show. He tried acting next. He left USC's film school without a degree and starred in Flyboys (2006), a World War I flying film that cost about $60 million and grossed about $18 million. The name Skydance comes from "skydancing," a term for stunt flying.
08Building Skydance
From co-financier to studio
Skydance was founded in 2006 and became a real studio in 2010, when it raised $350 million in equity and credit and signed a deal to co-finance Paramount's films. The early slate included True Grit, which earned 10 Oscar nominations, and Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, which grossed $694.7 million worldwide. Skydance went on to co-finance the later Mission: Impossible and Star Trek films and World War Z.
It added television in 2013 (Grace and Frankie, Jack Ryan, Reacher), games in 2016, animation in 2017 and sports in 2021. Its biggest hit was Top Gun: Maverick, which grossed $1.5 billion worldwide in 2022 and earned Ellison a Best Picture nomination as one of its four credited producers. It also had flops, including Terminator: Dark Fate and Gemini Man in 2019.
Outside investors
Skydance raised money from outside investors as it grew. China's Tencent bought a minority stake in 2018; RedBird Capital and South Korea's CJ ENM invested $275 million in 2020 at a valuation of about $2.3 billion; and a $400 million round led by KKR in 2022 valued the company at more than $4 billion. The Ellison family remained the majority owner, with about 67% of the equity according to regulatory filings reported by Forbes. How that stake divides between David and Larry has never been disclosed.
09Taking Over Paramount
The deal
On July 7, 2024, Skydance agreed to merge with Paramount Global in a two-step deal worth about $8 billion: Skydance investors bought National Amusements, the Redstone family's holding company, for $2.4 billion, Paramount's public shareholders were offered $4.5 billion in cash or stock, and $1.5 billion of new capital went into the company. Skydance itself was valued at $4.75 billion and its owners received 317 million new Paramount shares at $15 each. About $6 billion of the money came from Larry Ellison.
The FCC approved the deal in July 2025 after Skydance committed to appointing a CBS ombudsman and ending diversity programs. It closed on August 7, 2025, when Paramount Skydance began trading on Nasdaq as PSKY with Ellison as chairman and CEO. "Today marks Day One of a new Paramount," he said.
First moves
Within months Paramount signed a seven-year, $7.7 billion deal for UFC's US rights, moving the fights from pay-per-view to Paramount+ and CBS; signed the Duffer Brothers, creators of Stranger Things; and bought The Free Press for a reported $150 million, making its founder Bari Weiss editor-in-chief of CBS News. It also cut about 2,000 US jobs. Two moves often credited to Ellison, the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and the $1.5 billion South Park streaming deal, were made by Paramount Global before he took control.
10Buying Warner Bros.
The bidding war
Paramount made six offers for Warner Bros. Discovery in the fall of 2025, starting at about $20 a share, and all were rejected. On December 5, 2025, Warner Bros. agreed instead to sell its studios and streaming business to Netflix for $27.75 a share. Three days later Paramount launched a hostile all-cash bid of $30 a share for the whole company, and on December 22 Larry Ellison personally guaranteed an initial $40.4 billion of the equity financing. Netflix withdrew on February 26, 2026, and the next day Warner Bros. agreed to sell to Paramount for $31 a share in cash, about $110 billion including debt.
Closing
The Justice Department cleared the deal without conditions in June 2026, and a challenge by 12 states was settled in September with commitments including an independent editorial board for CNN and CBS News, at least 30 films a year and $1.5 billion of added US production. The deal closed on October 6, 2026, and the company was renamed Skydance Corporation, trading on the NYSE as SKYD. To fund it, about 3.9 billion new shares were sold at $12 each for about $47 billion, to the Ellison family, Middle Eastern sovereign funds, RedBird and others.
Investors have not paid $12 since. The stock closed at $9.53 on its first day as SKYD and at $7.10 on October 20, 2026, after falling as shares began trading without newly issued warrants on October 14. The company starts with about $80 billion of debt and a target of more than $6 billion in cost savings over three years. Ellison named former Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz as co-CEO to run day-to-day operations.
11Pay
2025 and the closing award
Ellison's pay for August 7 to December 31, 2025 totaled $63.2 million: $1.4 million of salary, a $1.4 million annual incentive payout, $1.7 million of other pay, mostly personal security, and $58.7 million in sign-on stock, 5 million restricted stock units that vest over five years. For closing the Warner Bros. deal he received a $50 million cash bonus and $100 million of restricted stock units. The units were priced at a $12 floor, giving 8,333,333 units that vest quarterly over five years; at $7.10 they are worth about $59 million.
His contract was extended on October 6, 2026 to run until August 7, 2031, with a $5 million salary, a $5 million target bonus and annual stock awards starting at $5 million in 2027 and rising to $20 million for 2031. None of the stock awards granted to him so far has performance targets; all of them vest over time.
12Media Fortunes Compared
Forbes Real-Time figures for the owners and founders of major media companies, with our estimate for David Ellison.
| Person | Company | Date | Net worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Larry Ellison and family | Oracle; Skydance | October 21, 2026 | $171B |
| Rupert Murdoch and family | Fox; News Corp | October 21, 2026 | $25.3B |
| John Malone | Liberty Media | October 21, 2026 | $11.2B |
| Barry Diller | IAC; Expedia | October 17, 2026 | $5.9B |
| Reed Hastings | Netflix | October 16, 2026 | $4.4B |
| Brian Roberts | Comcast | October 15, 2026 | $1.3B |
| David Ellison | Skydance | October 20, 2026 | $1.12B |
All figures are Forbes Real-Time except David Ellison's, which is ours. Forbes puts him at more than $1 billion but counts him under Larry Ellison and family.
13Biggest Media Deals
The Warner Bros. takeover ranks among the largest media deals ever. Values are as reported when each deal was struck; some include debt and some do not.
| Deal | Closed | Value |
|---|---|---|
| AOL and Time Warner | 2001 | About $165B |
| Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery | 2026 | About $110B including debt |
| AT&T and Time Warner | 2018 | About $85B |
| Disney and 21st Century Fox | 2019 | $71.3B |
| Discovery and WarnerMedia | 2022 | $43B |
| Skydance and Paramount Global | 2025 | About $8B |
Netflix's $83 billion agreement to buy Warner Bros.' studios and streaming business in December 2025 was abandoned in February 2026.
14Media CEO Pay, 2025
Total 2025 compensation for selected media CEOs, as reported in each company's proxy statement.
| CEO | Company | 2025 pay |
|---|---|---|
| David Zaslav | Warner Bros. Discovery | $165M |
| David Ellison | Paramount Skydance (August 7 to December 31) | $63.2M |
| Ted Sarandos | Netflix | $53.9M |
| Greg Peters | Netflix | $53.2M |
| Bob Iger | Disney (fiscal year to September 2025) | $45.8M |
Zaslav's stock and options were worth $606.1 million when the Warner Bros. deal closed, according to his Form 4 as reported by TheWrap.
15Frequently Asked Questions
What is David Ellison's net worth?
We estimate about $1.1 billion as of October 20, 2026, in a range of $0.85 billion to $1.5 billion. It is made up of family trust money from NetSuite and Oracle shares (about $800 million), half of the Skydance shares held by Skydance Entertainment Group (about $271 million at $7.10), a $50 million closing bonus and about $4 million of directly owned shares. Forbes said on October 6, 2026 that he is worth more than $1 billion.
Is David Ellison a billionaire?
Probably, but only just. Forbes says he is worth more than $1 billion and our estimate is $1.12 billion, but Forbes does not list him separately because most of the money he controls belongs to his father, Larry Ellison.
How much of Paramount and Warner Bros. does David Ellison own?
He controls about half of the votes in Skydance Corporation, the company formed when Paramount Skydance bought Warner Bros. Discovery, but owns under 1% of its shares economically, about 38.6 million shares on our estimate. Most of the family's shares are owned by Larry Ellison's trust, according to an April 2026 FCC ruling.
Did Larry Ellison pay for Paramount and Warner Bros.?
Mostly. Larry Ellison put up about $6 billion of the roughly $8 billion Skydance-Paramount deal in 2025, initially guaranteed $40.4 billion of equity for the Warner Bros. bid, more than $45 billion by the final deal according to Forbes, and through his trust the family invested about $17 billion when the deal closed in October 2026.
How much did David Ellison get for the Warner Bros. deal?
A $50 million cash bonus and $100 million of restricted stock that vests over five years. The stock was granted at a $12 floor price, so at the October 20, 2026 close of $7.10 it was worth about $59 million.
16Sources and Method
This is a sum-of-the-parts estimate of what David Ellison owns himself, not what he controls. Skydance shares are valued at the October 20, 2026 close of $7.10: 508,959 shares he owns directly ($3.6 million) and half of the 76,210,742 shares held by Skydance Entertainment Group LLC ($270.5 million). Forbes reported in July 2025 that it is unclear how the family's Skydance Entertainment Group stake is split between father and son, so we count half. The NetSuite proceeds ($500 million) and his share of the Oracle stock set aside by his father ($300 million) are Forbes' October 2026 estimates of what those holdings are worth today. Adding the $50 million cash closing bonus gives $1.12 billion, which we round to $1.1 billion.
The range runs from about $0.85 billion, with none of the Skydance Entertainment Group shares, to about $1.48 billion, with all of them plus his 12,437,500 unvested restricted stock units. We do not count the hundreds of millions of shares he controls as manager of family companies owned by his father's trust. Our Larry Ellison profile counts the family's Skydance shares under Larry; the Skydance Entertainment Group shares credited here may overlap with that count. Homes are not valued because none has been publicly identified, and nothing is subtracted for taxes.
- Ownership: Paramount Skydance Form 10-K/A for 2025, beneficial ownership table as of February 20, 2026, and 2025 executive pay (SEC); FCC ruling DA 26-411, April 27, 2026 (FCC); Ellison's Form 4 for the August 2026 vesting (StockTitan) and the October 2026 grants (StockTitan); Skydance closing 8-K, October 6, 2026 (SEC).
- Forbes: October 6, 2026 (Forbes); July 29, 2025 (Forbes); Larry Ellison real-time profile (Forbes).
- Warner Bros. deal and financing: Larry Ellison's $40.4 billion guarantee (Fortune); Netflix deal and hostile bid (TechCrunch); the family's $17 billion investment (Bloomberg via Quartz); states' settlement approved (AP); closing and debt (Los Angeles Business Journal); Ynon Kreiz as co-CEO (Axios); Larry Ellison's share pledges (Quartz).
- Pay: closing award (TheWrap); contract extension (TheWrap); Zaslav payout (TheWrap); Zaslav 2025 pay (Variety); Netflix pay (TheWrap); Iger pay (TheWrap).
- Share price: SKYD daily closes (StockAnalysis) and shares outstanding (StockAnalysis).
- Paramount deal: merger announcement, July 7, 2024 (SEC); deal close (Variety); UFC rights (Bloomberg); The Free Press (Reuters); Skydance funding rounds (Hollywood Reporter, Variety).
- Biography: flying career (Fortune); family (People); Skydance leadership (Skydance); box office (Box Office Mojo); media deal values (Realscreen, Axios, TheWrap).
1 Per his Form 4 filed August 11, 2026: 76,210,742 Class B shares held by Skydance Entertainment Group LLC, of which he is the manager. Forbes reported in July 2025 that it is unclear how this stake is split between David and Larry Ellison; we count half.
2 Our calculation. The Ellison family holds 77.5% of the voting Class A shares and RedBird Capital 22.5%, according to company and regulatory filings. The FCC's April 27, 2026 ruling shows David directing 64.5% of the family's votes and his father's Sayonara LLC 35.5%, which gives David about 50% of the total vote. Forbes has described him as holding nearly all of the family's voting rights.
Last updated: October 20, 2026. Net worth figures are estimates built from public filings and reporting; private holdings are valued conservatively and may differ from what the person would report.