Quick answer
David Ellison's base salary is $5 million a year — plus a $5 million target annual bonus — under the new contract that took effect when the Warner Bros. Discovery takeover closed in October 2026. On top of the cash, he received 104,167 restricted stock units and a separate $150 million deal-completion payout in cash and restricted stock. For 2025, his total reported compensation was $63.2 million, almost entirely in stock. The salary is serious money; next to a $1B+ family fortune, it is the garnish, not the meal.
The new $5M deal: base, bonus, and RSUs
Days after the $110 billion Warner Bros. Discovery deal closed on October 6, 2026, Skydance disclosed extended employment contracts for its top four executives in an SEC filing. Ellison's terms: a $5 million base salary and a $5 million target annual bonus, plus an RSU grant of 104,167 shares of Class B common stock. The contract runs through at least August 7, 2031 — a five-year horizon that signals the board expects him to personally steer the Warner integration to completion.
The equity kicker is back-loaded. Starting in calendar year 2027, Ellison becomes eligible for annual equity awards with an aggregate grant-date value of $5 million — rising to $20 million a year by 2031. The structure is classic pay-for-scale: modest cash now, serious equity as the integration delivers. The combined company trades on the NYSE under the ticker SKYD.
2025 pay: $63.2M, mostly stock
Before the Warner deal, Ellison's disclosed pay covered a stub year: the $63.2 million package ran from August 7, 2025 (when the Paramount-Skydance merger closed) through December 31, 2025. Shareholders voted against the merger-tied pay packages in a non-binding vote — and the board proceeded anyway, as such votes are advisory only.
| Component | 2025 amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $1.41M | Pro-rated Aug 7–Dec 31, 2025 |
| Stock awards | $58.7M | Sign-on RSUs vesting over 5 years |
| Cash bonus | $1.41M | Non-equity incentive plan |
| Other compensation | $1.7M | Includes $1.68M personal security |
| Total reported | $63.2M | Median employee pay ratio: 1,109 to 1 |
The stock awards were sign-on grants "intended to represent equity compensation over a five-year period," vesting quarterly — the reason a four-and-a-half-month stub year shows a nine-figure headline. The $1.68 million in personal security costs and $1,109-to-1 CEO-to-median-employee pay ratio (median employee: $57,004) both made headlines of their own.
The $150M deal bonus
Separate from salary entirely is the $150 million Ellison collected for closing the Warner Bros. Discovery transaction — a blend of cash bonus and restricted stock reported by TheWrap and Outlook Business. Deal-completion payouts are standard in megamergers; the scale here reflects the scale of the deal: $110 billion, the largest media takeover in years.
For context, the payout alone exceeds what most Fortune 500 CEOs earn in a decade. But inside the Ellison economy it is modest: his father personally guaranteed more than $45 billion of the same deal's financing. The $150 million is a token of appreciation from a system where the family trust is the real balance sheet. It also dwarfs his predecessor economics at Paramount: his entire 2025 package of $63.2 million — itself dominated by $58.7 million in sign-on stock — is less than half the one-time deal bonus. How he built the fortune explains the machinery behind it.
The equity ladder: $5M to $20M a year
The most lucrative part of the new contract is not the $5 million salary — it is the annual equity program. From 2027, Ellison's yearly equity grants start at a $5 million grant-date value and step up to $20 million by 2031, a fourfold ramp tied to the integration years when the combined company must deliver its promised $6 billion in cost savings.
Add the 104,167 RSUs granted at signing and the five-year vesting of the $58.7 million 2025 sign-on award, and Ellison's equity pipeline is deep even before counting the family trust's 77.5% voting control. He is, unusually for a CEO, both the highest-paid manager and the controlling shareholder's heir — employee and owner at once.
The whole top team got the long-term treatment in the same filing. President Andy Gordon and Ellison are locked in through at least August 7, 2031, chief legal officer Makan Delrahim through October 6, 2031, and CFO Dennis Cinelli through January 15, 2032 — contract horizons that match the multi-year integration timeline. Nobody at the top is on a short leash.
What the rest of the C-suite makes
The same SEC filing reset pay for the whole top team. President Andy Gordon and chief legal officer Makan Delrahim each moved to a $4 million base salary with $2.6 million target bonuses; CFO Dennis Cinelli went to $3.4 million base with a $2.6 million bonus. Gordon received 29,167 RSUs, Delrahim 91,667 shares, Cinelli 6,042 shares — with their own annual equity ladders from 2027.
Then there is co-CEO Ynon Kreiz, the ex-Mattel chief who joined October 5, 2026, to run day-to-day operations while Ellison focuses on strategy and creative. The division of labor is explicit: Ellison is the visionary owner-operator; Kreiz is the professional manager with public-company operating experience. Kreiz's Mattel tenure — including the turnaround that produced the 2023 Barbie film, that year's highest-grossing release — is the operating credential Ellison is buying. Notably absent from the new stack: former Paramount president Jeff Shell, who exited with a separation package of around $5 million.
Salary vs. wealth: why the paycheck barely matters
Step back and the numbers tell a familiar story. A $5 million salary and even a $63.2 million annual package are rounding errors against a $1B+ personal fortune and a $185 billion family fortune. Ellison does not work for the paycheck; he works for control — of CBS, HBO, CNN, Paramount Pictures, and the Warner Bros. studio, the full map of which is in the companies he owns.
The irony writes itself: the man who just collected $150 million for closing a deal is paid, on paper, less in a year than his security detail costs. But that is the Ellison model — salary for the filing, equity for the wealth, family capital for the empire. The buyer-vs-seller version of this story is Ellison vs. David Zaslav, the man who sold him Warner Bros. and walked away with even more.
Frequently asked questions
What is David Ellison's salary in 2026?
Under the new contract signed after the Warner Bros. Discovery deal closed, David Ellison's base salary is $5 million a year, with a $5 million target annual bonus. The deal runs through at least August 7, 2031, and adds annual equity awards starting in 2027.
How much did David Ellison earn in 2025?
Ellison's total 2025 compensation was $63.2 million. The package covered August 7 to December 31, 2025 (after the Paramount merger closed) and included a $1.41 million pro-rated base salary, $58.7 million in stock awards, a $1.41 million cash bonus, and $1.7 million in other compensation — mostly $1.68 million in personal security costs.
What was David Ellison's $150 million bonus?
The $150 million — a mix of cash and restricted stock — was a deal-completion payout tied to closing the Warner Bros. Discovery takeover in October 2026. It was disclosed before the close and paid on top of his regular salary and bonus.
What stock does David Ellison get as CEO?
The new contract granted him 104,167 restricted stock units of Class B common stock. Starting in calendar year 2027 he is also eligible for annual equity awards worth $5 million at grant date, rising to $20 million a year by 2031.
How long is David Ellison's CEO contract?
His employment contract runs through at least August 7, 2031, under terms disclosed in an SEC filing after the Warner Bros. Discovery merger closed. The company trades on the NYSE under the ticker SKYD.
Is David Ellison married?
Yes. David Ellison married actress and singer Sandra Lynn Modic on October 1, 2011, in Palm Springs, California. The couple has two children.
How old is David Ellison in 2026?
David Ellison is 43 in 2026. He was born on January 9, 1983, in Santa Clara County, California.
Who is David Ellison's co-CEO?
Ynon Kreiz, the former chairman and CEO of Mattel, joined Skydance as co-CEO on October 5, 2026. Ellison handles strategy, creative direction, and capital allocation; Kreiz runs day-to-day operations and the Warner Bros. Discovery integration.