Son of Larry Ellison, 42 years old, who runs Skydance Media, a production company he founded 15 years ago with his father's help. In summer 2025 he took control of Paramount in an $8.4bn deal mainly financed by his father; RedBird put up $2bn to help the merger. On December 8th 2025 Paramount offered $108bn in cash for the whole of Warner Bros Discovery, after Netflix announced a rival $83bn deal for Warner's studio and streaming services on December 5th. Ellison, a devotee of the silver screen who produced "Top Gun: Maverick", said a combined Warner-Paramount would release more than 30 movies a year in cinemas. The biggest financial backers of the bid are Gulf sovereign-wealth funds: the Ellisons would stump up $12bn while Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Saudi Arabia would together contribute $24bn. Combined, Paramount and Warner would have the largest share of the national television-ad market: 35%, compared with Disney's 27%.
In February 2026 Paramount Skydance grasped Warner Bros Discovery from the jaws of Netflix after months of wrangling. If regulators approve the deal and Warner shareholders vote in favour (the vote was due on April 23rd), Ellison will be enthroned as the king of Hollywood. The takeover still faces regulatory risk; Warner's share price was 12% below Paramount's cash offer.
Ellison has said he wants to blend "the creative heart of Hollywood with the innovative spirit of Silicon Valley". He appointed Makan Delrahim, an antitrust enforcer during Donald Trump's first term, as Paramount's chief legal officer. He also appointed a conservative-leaning "ombudsman" to oversee CBS News's coverage. Yet he donated nearly $1m to Joe Biden's 2024 presidential campaign and recently spent $1.5bn renewing "South Park". The Ellison family has been named by Donald Trump as part of the group that will run the promised American version of TikTok, giving them a hand in both professional and social media.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder -- of somebody else.