From college dropout to Hollywood's youngest mogul: The rise of David Ellison, son of world's second richest man Larry Ellison

With the US$8 billion merger between Skydance and Paramount recently approved by the U.S.’ Federal Communications Commission, David, 42, is set to become a major Hollywood player once the deal is completed on Thursday, as reported by Forbes.

The deal will also position him and his father, the Oracle co-founder whose net worth is estimated at $298 billion, as one of the most powerful duos in Hollywood, with far-reaching sway over film, television, and news.

David, who holds 50% of the voting rights in the combined firm and will serve as its CEO, is set to lead an entertainment giant whose assets range from a film library of more than 1,200 titles and distribution rights to 2,400 more, to television networks like MTV, Nickelodeon, Showtime, and CBS News.

US producer David Ellison attends Apple’s "Fountain of Youth" premiere at the American Museum of Natural History in New York on May 19, 2025. Photo by AFP

His journey in the entertainment industry traces back to his childhood passion for aviation and movies, which set him on a different path from his tech billionaire father.

Born in 1983 to Larry and his third wife, Barbara Boothe, David and his younger sister, Megan Ellison, were raised by their mother on a horse farm in the San Francisco Bay Area following their divorce.

David’s mother played a key role in shaping his work ethic and discipline, giving David a $5 weekly allowance for doing chores, according to Reuters.

She also fostered his early love of film. The family regularly attended movie openings on weekends and had shelves lined with more than 2,000 VHS tapes. David and his sister would binge-watch blockbuster series like "Star Wars," "Jurassic Park" and "Terminator."

David remained close to his father, who took him to his first flying lesson when he was 13 and later bought him a two-seat aerobatic monoplane. The two would engage in mock aerial battles on weekends, according to one of Larry’s biographers.

Larry was acutely aware of the effects that immense wealth could bring and taught David about responsibility.

"The sooner my kids get experience dealing with the pluses and minuses of having a lot of money, the better," he once said, as quoted by the Los Angeles Times.

David (L) and his father, Larry Ellison. Photo from David's Instagram/@davidellisonskydance

After two summer internships at Oracle during high school, David knew he was not going to build a career in tech like his father.

He went on to study film at the University of Southern California before he eventually dropped out and pursued acting, as per the Wall Street Journal.

In 2005, he moved to Hollywood to act in and finance "Flyboys," a World War I aerial combat film with a $60 million budget. The film flopped both critically and commercially, earning just $17 million worldwide and drawing scathing reviews.

A few years later, "Northern Lights," a film he co-wrote and intended to co-star in, collapsed in a public failure, prompting him to abandon acting and turn to movie production.

"When that movie didn’t come together, it was a turning point," David later said in an interview. "Everything I’ve done has helped me to realize producing is all that I want to do."

Hollywood insiders and the media laughed at David’s attempt to break into the industry as a serious creative, viewing him as a caricature of "dumb money," a term for gullible, wealthy outsiders who bankroll costly projects, often to their own detriment.

Still, he pressed on and, in 2010, launched his own production company, Skydance Media—named after his love of stunt flying, often called "skydancing."

He raised $350 million, partly funded by his father, to strike a five-year deal to partner and produce movies with Paramount.

David found early success with big hits like "True Grit," which earned more than $252 million on a $38 million budget and received 10 Oscar nominations, and "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol," which grossed nearly $700 million worldwide.

In 2011, he married actress Sandra Lynn Modic, whom he met while filming "Hole in One." They have two children, and David often shares photos of their family vacations to Lana’i, the Hawaiian island Larry mostly owns, according to the South China Morning Post.

While many in Hollywood assumed he would simply write checks and attend premieres, David had a bigger vision for Skydance. He would describe it as a "media company 2.0," one that would create its own content and expand into television and digital platforms.

Despite being young and relatively inexperienced, he earned the respect of those in his field.

"He’s had some hits and misses. But he’s been bold and aggressive and built a solid production company in Skydance," one executive in the industry said of David.

Such misses include "Gemini Man" and "Terminator: Dark Fate," both of which underperformed at the box office and were poorly received.

Skydance’s biggest hit was "Top Gun: Maverick," which made nearly $1.5 billion worldwide and became the second-highest-grossing movie of 2022.

That same year, the firm’s valuation ballooned to around $4 billion following investments from private equity firms like RedBird and KKR. As of mid-2024, it had produced or co-financed 35 feature films, including 24 in partnership with Paramount. It generated around $1 billion in revenue in 2023.

When asked in a 2022 interview on the New York Times' Sway podcast about how he dealt with being dismissed early on as "dumb money" in Hollywood, David replied: "Put my head down, did the work, personally."

He expressed gratitude for having mentors like Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and renowned lawyer Skip Brittenham for helping him grow his career, saying he learned to listen, avoid missteps, and build on the guidance he received. He also credited his team.

"But then also, I tried to partner and hire at Skydance the smartest people possible," he said. "And now, when you look around our senior leadership team, one of the things I am the most proud of is the incredible group of people I get to come to work with every day."