Larry Ellison is already a major stakeholder in CBS and Paramount. Now CNN, HBO and a major share of TikTok are in his sights. If all goes as anticipated, this tech billionaire, already one of the richest men in the world and a founder of Oracle, is poised, at 81, to become one of the most powerful media and entertainment moguls America has ever seen.
For the rest of us, the effect of Mr. Ellison’s gambit could be every bit as consequential, if not more so, than what happened a generation ago when Rupert Murdoch brought his brand of Down Under snark and cynicism to create what has become Fox News, intensifying our political polarization.
Mr. Ellison’s expected incursion into Hollywood and Big Media, if successful, could also go well beyond what other tech moguls like Jeff Bezos and Marc Benioff have attempted through their acquisitions of The Washington Post and Time magazine, respectively. For those men, the acquisitions were more like expensive hobbies.
Mr. Ellison is up to something very different: transforming himself into a media magnate. Along with his son, David, he could soon end up controlling a powerful social media platform, an iconic Hollywood movie studio and one of the largest content streaming services, as well as two of the country’s largest news organizations. Given Mr. Ellison’s friendship with, and affinity for, Donald Trump, an increasingly emboldened president could be getting an extraordinarily powerful media ally — in other words, the very last thing our country needs right now.
It all begins for Mr. Ellison with David’s recent acquisition of what is now known as Paramount Skydance, bought with a small part of Larry’s more than $350 billion fortune. That deal, which included an investment from the private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners, combined the old Paramount Global with Skydance Media, the film production and entertainment company David founded in 2010.
Within weeks of the August closing of the deal, it was clear that the Ellisons were serious about making Paramount Skydance a major new media force. They signed a seven-year, $7.7 billion deal for CBS and Paramount to broadcast and to stream the Ultimate Fighting Championship, whose chief executive spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention and is a longtime Trump supporter.
The Ellisons have also made no secret of their intention to move CBS News to the right. They are negotiating to acquire The Free Press, a heterodox publication co-founded by Bari Weiss that prioritizes criticism of “woke” culture, and put Ms. Weiss in a senior position at CBS News. The Ellisons also hired as the CBS ombudsman Kenneth Weinstein, the former chief executive of the conservative Hudson Institute. See where this is going, and fast?
Then, if all goes according to plan, Mr. Trump could soon hand an 80 percent stake in TikTok, the powerful social media platform, to the existing shareholders, among them KKR and General Atlantic, plus a new consortium that includes Mr. Ellison’s Oracle and a16z, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm whose co-founder Marc Andreessen is close with the administration.
There’s more: The Ellisons are also, reportedly, preparing a bid — of perhaps $80 billion, according to some estimates — for Warner Bros. Discovery, the media conglomerate that controls such jewels as HBO Max, the Warner Bros. movie studio and CNN.
If Paramount Skydance follows through with an all-cash bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, it is likely to win the prize. Few other companies out there want all of Warner Bros. Discovery and few of those would be able to compete with the Ellisons’ cash. Regulators under a different presidential administration might have objected to the deal because of the concentration of Hollywood studios and the combination of CBS and CNN, but few expect the Ellisons to run into similar trouble. In the end, Warner Bros. Discovery may have little choice but to take Larry’s money and run.
There will be plenty of jobs lost as a result of the “synergies” that the Ellisons will promise investors they will find. That will be painful. But of even greater consequence from the combination of these assets under the control of Larry Ellison will be the expectation — and probably the reality — that these important media outlets will, like Fox News, march toward a more Trump-friendly worldview.
Who knows why the Ellisons seem to be moving in this direction. Is it good for business? Is it just easier to bend the knee to Mr. Trump? Do they really believe in the Trump agenda and all his meshugas?
No matter their motives, two independent journalistic voices, CBS News and CNN, could soon be combined into something potentially almost unrecognizable, something way too close to what is served up on a daily basis by the Murdochs. And that will put yet another chink in the fragile armor that is America’s democracy.