David Ellison’s Troubling H.R. File

david ellison
So some of Ellison’s decisions before and since the acquisition of Paramount offer a clue about what may not be his strongest suit: hiring. Photo: eff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Kim Masters
March 10, 2026

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As a demoralized Hollywood anxiously casts about for signs of how David Ellison will run ParaBros or WarnerMount, should the $111 billion deal close, the reality is that there isn’t much track record to work with regarding the 43-year-old producer who has become the world’s most voracious acquirer of media in a span of about seven months. Yes, having rolled into town with a couple billion dollars in his pocket, he ran Skydance and has dozens of credits. But he’s also enjoyed little notable success outside the projects that Paramount kissed him into. Now the studio team—Skydance’s Dana Goldberg and former Sony exec Josh Greenstein—will potentially be overseeing a third of Hollywood’s theatrical releases.