News

What Larry and David Ellison Would Own After Warner Bros. Takeover

NYT > Business > Media · John Koblin and Brooks Barnes · last updated

If Paramount can close its deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, Larry and David Ellison will influence nearly every corner of news, entertainment and tech.

As little as a year ago, Larry Ellison, at 80 years old, appeared to be winding down his long career as a tech mogul. And his son David Ellison owned a lone Hollywood company, and a rather minuscule one at that: Skydance Media.

But now the two are on the brink of overseeing an empire that touches nearly every corner of news, entertainment and tech.

If the Ellisons close their deal to fold Warner Bros. Discovery into what is now Paramount Skydance, as they are poised to do after Netflix abandoned its bid on Thursday night, the family will control companies as powerful and varied as CBS, Oracle, CNN, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures and HBO.

View full article

Related stories

here today, more tomorrow

We’re launching briefing.center with a focus on the press and media.

And we’re adding Citizen Cartwright, a daily quick-read news summary by veteran Washington journalist Linda Cartwright. (Sign-up for a dedicated morning email is available at Citizencartwright.com.)

We’re readying our first policy briefing.center, on energy and climate. We’d love to hear from you in what our other policy priorities should be.

You can use briefing.center as the center of your information management, or just one of your tools. We’re happy to discuss your connectivity needs.

Sign up