This billionaire Trump ally and his son are building an unprecedented media empire

[dalton99a]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/10/04/larry-david-ellison-media-trump/

This billionaire Trump ally and his son are building an unprecedented media empire
Larry and David Ellison’s holdings span movies, TV networks, CBS and soon a stake in TikTok, in a paradigm shifting portfolio with huge influence.
October 4, 2025 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
By Caroline O'Donovan and Will Oremus

...

Larry Ellison, 81, is the second-richest person in the world and co-founder and chairman of tech company Oracle, which is set to own a piece of the U.S. spin-off of TikTok, according to two people familiar with the negotiations. David Ellison, 42, made blockbusters including “Top Gun: Maverick” at his Hollywood company Skydance before merging it with Paramount this summer, taking control of CBS and its other TV and movie franchises. His father provided financial backing for the deal.

The disruption at CBS News this week heralds the arrival of a vast father-son enterprise spanning Hollywood, television, and soon a chunk of a massively popular social app. What they choose to do with their staggering wealth and expanding holdings could shape the future of U.S. business and culture.

In a media world accustomed to ruling dynasties, the Ellisons stand out for the scale of their wealth and the scope and diversity of the audience they now access. Larry Ellison’s personal fortune is $345 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, more than thirty times Rupert Murdoch’s net worth.

The TikTok and Free Press deals give the Ellisons a foothold in online media that has largely eluded the Murdoch family. By uniting Paramount’s massive audience and iconic media franchises with TikTok’s data-centric approach to entertainment, the family could forge a new, interdisciplinary model for the media business, said Anthony Palomba, an assistant professor at University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.

“You have a son who is going into media, a father who is close to Trump and acquiring the most addictive social platform we’ve ever seen,” said Palomba. “These are very smart people, and none of this is accidental.”

...