Skydance Corporation dividend: payout and cash
MyStockButler's October 2026 analysis: Skydance Corporation pays $0.05 per share each quarter, or $0.20 per share a year in the base case. Its 2025 free cash flow was $353 million, but stock pay left $80 million of real free cash flow, so the cash cushion was thin.
How much does Skydance Corporation pay in dividends?
Paramount cut its quarterly dividend in May 2023. It fell from 24 cents to 5 cents per share. Dividends and payments to minority owners had exceeded free cash flow in both 2022 and 2023, so the cut preserved cash for the balance sheet. There were no buybacks during the five-year period.
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EPS, diluted | -9.36 | -2.06 | 1.03 | 6.69 | |
| Free cash flow per share | 0.74 | 0.09 | -0.77 | 0.73 | |
| − Dividends paid, per share | 0.21 | 0.60 | 0.97 | 0.94 | |
| − Share buybacks, per share | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
What this means. The company's own free cash flow per share is higher because it does not subtract the value of shares given to employees as pay; we subtract it because those shares reduce each investor's share of the business.
Is Skydance Corporation's dividend covered by its cash?
Operating cash was $649 million and capital spending was $296 million in 2025, leaving $353 million of free cash flow. That amounted to 1.2% of revenue. The five-year record also includes negative $500 million in 2022, showing how quickly collections or programming payments can consume the surplus.
Stock compensation makes the economic surplus thinner. Deducting $273 million of 2025 stock pay leaves $80 million of real free cash flow, or 0.3% of revenue. That is not another cash payment during the year, but it represents value shareholders must absorb.
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free cash flow | 353 | 489 | 56 | -500 | 481 |
| − Paid to minority owners | 37 | 127 | 93 | 218 | 235 |
| − Dividends paid | 191 | 139 | 389 | 631 | 617 |
| − Share buybacks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| = Free cash flow not paid out | 125 | 223 | |||
| Paid out, % of free cash flow | 54.1% | 28.4% | 694.6% | not meaningful | 128.3% |
What this means. In 2023 and 2021, the company paid shareholders more cash than its business generated, so it had to use savings or borrow money.
What could change Skydance Corporation's dividend?
The base dividend stays at $0.20 per share in every horizon, matching four quarterly payments of $0.05. The bear case suspends payments after October 2027 because debt service and integration consume cash. The bull case reaches $0.30 and then $0.40 as savings and deleveraging create room for increases. The prior cut and the fact that dividends consumed 54.1% of 2025 free cash flow make a flat payout more defensible than immediate growth.
Evidence in 2027 that savings exceed implementation costs would move the forecast toward the bull case by lifting margins, cash flow and debt repayment. Evidence that savings arrive late would move it toward the bear case.
| October 2027 | October 2028 | October 2029 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal operating profit | 8,500 (6,300 / 9,500) | 8,800 (5,800 / 10,500) | 9,000 (5,500 / 11,500) |
| Dividends per share | 0.20 (0.20 / 0.20) | 0.20 (0.00 / 0.30) | 0.20 (0.00 / 0.40) |
| Net debt | 79,103 (81,000 / 77,000) | 76,603 (82,500 / 72,000) | 72,603 (84,500 / 66,000) |