Paramount Skydance Chairman and CEO David Ellison, who is in the midst of finalizing a blockbuster deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, had a compensation package worth $63.2 million last year, mostly in stock with a five-year vesting.
Jeff Shell, who resigned as president of Paramount earlier this month to “focus” on a breach of contract lawsuit brought against him, was paid a total of $60.68 million. The company disclosed executive compensation in an SEC filing on Friday.
Additionally, chief legal officer Makan Delrahim, who joined the company in September, was worth $63.58 million in compensation in 2025, according to filings. Delahim advised Skydance on its acquisition of Paramount Global. He previously served as assistant attorney general overseeing the U.S. Justice Department’s antitrust division during President Trump’s first term.
Paramount’s chief strategy officer and chief operating officer, Andy Gordon, a former Redbird Capital Partners executive, was paid the equivalent of $48.5 million.
The majority of each executive’s 2025 compensation was a “sign-on” stock grant that vested over five years. These stock awards were “intended to represent stock awards to each grantee over a five-year period and were granted with the expectation that these executives would receive stock grants on a regular, rather than annual basis,” Paramount said in the filing.
Mr. Ellison received a stock award worth $58.7 million. His base salary will be $1.41 million and his cash bonus will be $1.41 million, both pro-rated for the period of his employment from August 7 (the date the Paramount-Skydance deal was finalized) through the end of 2025.
Additionally, Ellison’s salary package included $1.69 million in other compensation. According to the filing, the costs included $1.68 million in personal security expenses for Ellison, $12,584 in expenses “related to personal guest attendance at certain business events,” and $648 in company-paid life insurance premiums.
Shell’s pro-rated salary in 2025 was $1.41 million, a cash bonus of $1.41 million, and a one-time stock award worth $58.7 million. But he won’t get all of the stock. Under the terms of his separation agreement with Paramount, he is eligible for early vesting of stock awards that would have vested by the 12-month anniversary of the date of separation. Mr. Schell will also receive cash payments equal to his annual base salary of $3.5 million and a targeted annual bonus of $1.5 million for the first 12 months of his retirement.
On April 8, Paramount Skydance announced that Shell was departing to “focus” on a lawsuit filed by professional gambler RJ Cipriani. Mr. Cipriani alleges that Shell owes Crisis Public Relations Services $150 million and alleges that the executive shared Paramount’s confidential information in violation of securities laws. Shell has strongly denied any wrongdoing (and countersued Cipriani for defamation), and Paramount said an internal investigation found that Cipriani did not violate securities laws.
Mr. Gordon, Paramount’s chief strategy officer and chief operating officer, earned a prorated salary of $1.13 million, a cash bonus of $454,246, and stock vesting rights worth $46.96 million over five years.
Mr. Delrahim’s 2025 compensation included a salary of $844,828, a cash bonus of $336,144 and a “sign-on” stock award worth $57.39 million.
