David Ellison is officially chairman and CEO of Paramount Skydance after an $8 billion tie-up. Next on his wish list: Warner Bros Discovery.
David Ellison is officially the CEO of Paramount Skydance. After a successful Paramount merger, next on his wish list is Warner Bros. Discovery — and he’s launched a hostile takeover bid in an effort to scoop it out from Netflix’s hands.
The 42-year-old founded Skydance back in 2006 with some help from his father Larry Ellison, the Oracle cofounder who’s worth $277 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Since then, Skydance has enjoyed considerable success with films including «Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol» and «Baywatch», and a total box office haul of more than $8 billion. The merger deal valued Skydance at $4.75 billion.
Its biggest hit has been «Top Gun: Maverick», which became the second-highest-grossing film of 2022 after making almost $1.5 billion worldwide.
After seeing the original «Top Gun» as a child, David Ellison became obsessed with flying. His billionaire father bought him a plane at the age of 13 and they took flying lessons together. By 17, Ellison had begun competing in air shows performing aerial acrobatics.
He gave up flying competitively after starting a film degree at USC that he later dropped out of, Ellison told Kara Swisher in an episode of The New York Times’ «Sway» podcast.
