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A BILLIONAIRE TRUMP SUPPORTER WILL SOON OWN THE NEWS  
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William D. Cohan
September 18, 2025
The New York Times
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_ The unprecedented likely control of CBS, CNN, HBO, Paramount,
TikTok and Discovery by Trump-supporting billionaire Larry Ellison
indicates that these important media outlets will, like Fox News,
march toward a more Trump-friendly worldview. _

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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
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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
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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.

_William D. Cohan is a founding partner of Puck and a former Wall
Street banker._

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