The challenges facing the Ellisons' media empire
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Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photos: Chris Kleponis and Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Once the dealmaking dust settles, the father and son duo of Larry and David Ellison will face an even bigger obstacle: proving they can run a sprawling media empire.
Why it matters: The Ellisons' portfolio spans CBS News, Paramount Pictures, and a piece of TikTok U.S. — and if they ultimately win the battle for Warner Bros. Discovery, could add CNN and HBO.
State of play: The Ellisons haven't had the smoothest start to their media mogul era.
🥊 Political backlash: Paramount was criticized for settling a $16 million voter interference lawsuit filed by President Trump. The FCC approved its Skydance deal shortly after.
- Critics also accused the company of capitulating to President Trump after he suggested he brokered a "side deal" with Skydance executives for millions of dollars in public service announcements supporting conservative causes. Paramount denied its settlement included PSAs.
📺 Editorial controversy: CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, who reports directly to David Ellison, has faced backlash over editorial decisions like pulling a "60 Minutes" episode about Trump administration deportations of Venezuelan immigrants.
- The report aired last weekend with a new intro and outro, but was virtually the same as when Weiss held it.
💰 Deal drama: The bumps come as David Ellison's Paramount attempts an expensive and contentious takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery.
- WBD has repeatedly rebuffed the bids and this week called Paramount's offer a "scheme." Even if Paramount were ultimately successful, acquiring another major news network could come with another wave of regulatory and political headaches, Axios' Sara Fischer noted.
The big picture: Headline risks aside, there are plenty of difficult macro trends to navigate.
- Declines in linear TV viewing have eroded advertising revenue, while media companies pour money into growing their streaming offerings.
- Platforms are increasingly competing for pricey live sports rights in a bid to retain subscribers as the streaming market matures.
- The domestic box office still hasn't recovered to its pre-pandemic highs.
- There also the money question. Larry Ellison's wealth comes from his stake in Oracle, which has lost about half its value in recent months amid investor concerns about taking on debt for AI investments.
Between the lines: The Ellisons could find other, cheaper ways to fuel Paramount's growth, like pursuing other acquisition targets or bidding more aggressively for content licenses, LightShed Partners' Rich Greenfield said on TBPN this week.
- "I would not want to be in this transformative AI media world, sitting there with seven times leverage. That is not a great place to be," he said. "I truly believe David Ellison has a huge opportunity over the next decade, but I don't think over-levering to buy Warner Bros. is the best path forward."
- Paramount Skydance did not respond to Axios' request for comment.
Reality check: Even with a difficult landscape to navigate, Paramount has already cut splashy deals, including UFC rights shortly after closing its merger with Skydance.
- David Ellison also has experience producing films like "Top Gun: Maverick" and several movies from the "Mission: Impossible" franchise.
- And while TikTok U.S. could be considered another complicating piece of the empire, Oracle's stake is just 15%, and executive vice president Kenneth Glueck was named to a new joint venture board, not Larry Ellison.
The bottom line: Buying scale is one thing, surviving a fragile media economy is another.
