How Larry Ellison is helping his son David build a media empire, including making the case to Trump for why Paramount, not Netflix, should acquire WBD
Kevin Tierney / @catholicsmark : Well yes, in order to survive CBS needed to have less bias in its newsroom. Why is this surprising? Steve Rosenbaum / @magnifymedia : https://www.nytimes.com/.... Does this story reflect where they are? Feels speculative - but the CBS + TikTok power base, even without CNN is a massive shift in media and power - Kenneth Roth / @kenroth : The Ellisons are trying to become conservative media moguls like the Murdochs. That could radically shift the American media environment to the right. https://www.nytimes.com/... Larry Rosenthal / @larryrosenthal : State news. Were the North Koreans now Omar El-Ayat / @oelayat : Imagine calling your billionaire software-entrepreneur father mid-medical emergency for advice because he claims to be ‘knowledgeable about healthcare’ [image] Hussein Kanji / @hkanji : Larry and David Ellison didn't always have a close relationship. Now they're one of the most intriguing partnerships in business. https://www.nytimes.com/... Lon Harris / @lons : Literally no point in being a billionaire if you still have to get up and go to work every day for Donald Trump. Teddy Schleifer / @teddyschleifer : NEW — 'Tis the season for giving. 🎄🧑🎄 And all Larry Ellison wants to do is give his son David a massive media company. Inside the Larry-David relationship, and how the Ellisons are tag-teaming Donald Trump to try and buy Warner Brothers. Scoops here: https://www.nytimes.com/... Chris Fenton / @thedragonfeeder : “When David Ellison became a teenager, his father, Larry, bought him a gift not usually bestowed on a 13th birthday: his own Katana stunt plane. With their own aircraft, father & son could bond in the air, ruling the skies together.” @teddyschleifer https://www.nytimes.com/... Ronald Brownstein / @ronbrownstein : “Trump has privately said Larry Ellison assured him that he would turn CBS News, which the Ellisons took over when they bought Paramount, into a more conservative outlet, two people with knowledge of the president's comments said.” https://www.nytimes.com/... via @NYTimes Nick Field / @nick_field90 : “Trump has privately said Larry Ellison assured him that he would turn CBS News, which the Ellisons took over when they bought Paramount, into a more conservative outlet, two people with knowledge of the president's comments said” https://www.nytimes.com/... Teddy Schleifer / @teddyschleifer : Trump has privately said Larry Ellison assured him that he would turn CBS News, which the Ellisons took over when they bought Paramount, into a more conservative outlet, two people with knowledge of the president's comments said. https://www.nytimes.com/... Bluesky: Mark Jacob / @markjacob : In the news business, we call this a “puff piece.” It's about the Ellisons, an “intriguing partnership,” according to the NY Times, which seems more impressed by people's bank accounts than anything else. The Ellisons are buying up media to prop up a dictator. That's the news. 1/4 🧵 Bailey McCann / @baileymcc : Reminder that their whole deal is that they think you should be “better behaved” and the way to achieve that is that they get to surveil every aspect of your life and assemble various ways of entrapping you into their preferred behaviors at your expense Nolan Hicks / @ndhapple : “A Father, a Son and Their $108 Billion Push for Media Moguldom: Larry and David Ellison didn't always have a close relationship. Now they're one of the most intriguing partnerships in business.” — www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/b... Mark Jacob / @markjacob : I'm not saying every profile has to be a hit piece, but come on. Do we really need quotes like this? — “Larry is one of the smartest people I've ever met, but I honestly think David may be even smarter.” 2/4 Mastodon: Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life@mas.to : With tech billionaires in a contest to be the next Rupert Murdoch and move mainstream media further rightwards, I'm annoyed that it's coming down to The NY Times as the last major news site I can trust to not be 100% right wing propaganda. — Note: This doesn't mean they aren't full of right wing propaganda, it's just not 100%. … Forums: Hacker News : A Father, a Son and Their $108B Push for Media Moguldom (Larry Ellison) r/Journalism : A Father, a Son and Their $108 Billion Push for Media Moguldom r/entertainment : A Father, a Son and Their $108 Billion Push for Media Moguldom r/MediaMergers : Larry Ellison Assured Trump CBS News Would Be Turned Into More Conservative Outlet & David Thought Its Finances Could Improve If It's Perceived As Less Liberal. … r/wbdstock : Larry Ellison Assured Trump CBS News Would Be Turned Into More Conservative Outlet & David Thought Its Finances Could Improve If It's Perceived As Less Liberal. … See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
The Ellisons’ Paramount takeover was already being framed as part of Larry Ellison’s expanding media footprint, with an earlier report raising the prospect of influence over CBS, CNN and TikTok in a broader Ellison media buildout. This report adds a concrete political dimension: Larry Ellison is said to be advocating directly for Paramount’s bid for Warner Bros. Discovery rather than a Netflix acquisition.
The story also follows reporting that technology investors’ policy relationships can overlap with their business interests, including the White House role and investments surrounding David Sacks. Here, the relevant overlap is between ownership ambitions, a favorable regulatory environment and the editorial direction of CBS News.
First-order effects
- Paramount’s pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery gains an explicitly political advocacy component, while Netflix is positioned as the competing buyer Larry Ellison is reportedly arguing against.
- CBS News faces immediate scrutiny over whether ownership’s reported preference for a less liberal perception will affect editorial leadership, newsroom operations or audience trust.
Second-order effects
- A Paramount-WBD combination would force rival media groups and streaming platforms to reassess distribution, content and news-network competition around CBS and CNN; the prior troubled AT&T-Time Warner merger underscores the execution risk of integrating major media assets.
- The reported lobbying makes regulatory treatment and political relationships more salient variables in the contest, rather than leaving the outcome to conventional deal economics alone.
Third-order effects
- If owners increasingly combine technology wealth, media consolidation and direct political access, U.S. media power could become more concentrated across entertainment, news and distribution platforms.
- The durable fault line is whether editorial brands can retain credibility and operational independence when ownership regards political positioning as a commercial lever.
The trend: This is one data point in frontier-capital-backed media consolidation, where ownership scale and political access are becoming intertwined strategic assets.