Paramount Skydance Discloses 2025 Pay for CEO David Ellison, Former President Jeff Shell

Paramount Skydance chairman and CEO David Ellison, who is in the midst of trying close a massive deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, had a pay package worth $63.2 million last year — mostly in stock that vests over five years.

Jeff Shell, who resigned as Paramount’s president earlier this month to “focus” on a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed against him, had a total compensation package worth $60.68 million. The company disclosed the executive compensation in an SEC filing Friday.

In addition, chief legal officer Makan Delrahim, who joined the company in September, had 2025 compensation worth $63.58 million, per the filing. Delrahim had advised Skydance on its takeover of Paramount Global. He was formerly an assistant attorney general overseeing the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division during President Trump’s first term.

Former RedBird Capital Partners executive Andy Gordon, Paramount’s chief strategy officer and COO, had a pay package worth $48.5 million.

The bulk of each exec’s 2025 compensation was in “sign-on” stock grants, which vest over five years. Those stock awards “were intended to represent equity compensation for each grantee over a five-year period and granted with the expectation that these executives would receive periodic, rather than annual, equity grants,” Paramount said in the filing.

Ellison received stock awards valued at $58.7 million. He was paid a base salary of $1.41 million and received a cash bonus of $1.41 million, both pro-rated for the time of his employment from Aug. 7 (when the Paramount-Skydance deal closed) through the end of 2025.

In addition, Ellison’s pay package included $1.69 million in other compensation. That comprised $1.68 million personal security-related costs for Ellison, $12,584 in costs “associated with personal guest attendance of certain business events,” and $648 in company-paid life insurance, per the filing.

Shell in 2025 also had a pro-rated salary of $1.41 million and cash bonus of $1.41 million, plus one-time stock awards valued at $58.7 million. But he won’t get all of that stock: Under the terms of his separation agreement with Paramount, he will be eligible to receive accelerated vesting of his stock awards that would have otherwise vested through the 12-month anniversary of the date of separation. Shell also will receive an amount in cash equal to his annual base salary of $3.5 million and $1.5 million target annual bonus for 12 months following his exit.

On April 8, Paramount Skydance said Shell was departing to “focus” on a lawsuit filed by R.J. Cipriani, a professional gambler who claims Shell owes him $150 million for crisis PR services and alleges the exec shared confidential information about Paramount in violation of securities laws. Shell has strongly denied any wrongdoing (and has countersued Cipriani for defamation), and Paramount said an internal investigation found he had not violated of securities laws.

Gordon, Paramount’s strategy chief and COO, had a pro-rated salary of $1.13 million and cash bonus of $454,246, plus $46.96 million worth of stock vesting over five years.

Delrahim’s 2025 compensation included $844,828 in salary, $336,144 cash bonus, and “sign-on” stock awards worth $57.39 million.