Ellison Dynasty Sets Sights On Warner Bros

The Ellison family is making its boldest move yet in Hollywood. Just weeks after completing an $8bn takeover of Paramount, David Ellison, founder of Skydance, is preparing a bid for Warner Bros Discovery. Backed by his father Larry Ellison, the Oracle co-founder and once again the world’s richest man, the plan could redraw the balance of power in global media.

A family legacy, but not in the shadow

Larry Ellison’s return to the top of global wealth tables has inevitably cast attention on his role in financing the bid. Yet the initiative is being driven by his son. David Ellison, 42, has long harboured ambitions beyond being seen as an heir. By building Skydance into a production house behind Top Gun: Maverick and multiple Mission Impossible instalments, he has won a place in Hollywood on his own terms. The Warner move underlines that intent.

“Larry may be the richest man alive, but this deal is about David making his mark,” said Laurent Yoon, an analyst at Bernstein. “If you control Paramount and Warner Bros, you are a Hollywood mogul in your own right.”

From Paramount to Warner in weeks

Ellison only closed his Paramount acquisition from Shari Redstone on August 7 after a bruising battle with shareholders and regulators. Paramount’s roots stretch back to the silent film era, but like Warner it has struggled in the streaming age to match the scale of Netflix or Disney.

The younger Ellison believes he can modernise both companies by placing their film, television and cable operations on a single technology platform. The approach, borrowing from Silicon Valley’s culture of efficiency, is designed to cut costs and improve the customer experience across streaming services.

The proposed Warner takeover would add HBO, DC Studios, CNN and a wide slate of sports rights to Ellison’s new empire. Analysts argue that combining Paramount+ and HBO Max could create one of the few genuine challengers to Netflix’s dominance.

Rejecting the spin-off trend

The bid also represents a challenge to the strategy pursued by Warner Bros chief executive David Zaslav and Comcast boss Brian Roberts, who are both preparing to spin off cable assets in response to cord-cutting. Ellison wants the opposite. His plan is to keep Warner’s linear networks, including CNN and TNT, and use them to feed streaming services with live news and sport. It is a model more closely aligned with Bob Iger’s approach at Disney, where legacy TV channels are still harnessed to support Hulu and Disney+.

Jessica Reif Ehrlich at Bank of America wrote in a recent note that such a combination “would create an extremely formidable competitor in streaming”, though she warned that integration and restructuring “would likely take years to implement”.

Capital and conviction

Financing firepower is not in doubt. Larry Ellison’s fortune gives the family a scale of resources few can match. Gerry Cardinale of RedBird Capital, who helped structure the Paramount deal, is also playing a central role in the Warner talks. Together they have the means to strike before rival suitors mobilise.

Hollywood insiders expect that a Paramount move on Warner would flush out interest from other potential buyers, ranging from Apple and Amazon to Comcast and Netflix itself. The mere prospect has revived talk of industry-wide consolidation after two years in which studios have mostly focused on cutting costs, bundling subscriptions and introducing advertising tiers.

Warner’s recent momentum

Ellison’s timing is deliberate. Zaslav has overseen deep cuts at Warner Bros Discovery but has also celebrated a run of box office hits, including A Minecraft Movie, Sinners, Weapons, F1: The Movie and Superman. That success strengthens Warner’s hand if it waits until after its planned cable spin-off in 2026.

“Zaslav knows the company will be more valuable next year,” said Bernstein’s Yoon. “[Ellison] may want to do the deal pre-emptively.”

Warner Bros has been through troubled marriages before. Its tie-ups with AOL in 2000 and AT&T in 2018 are often cited among the worst corporate deals of the century. Yet the assets that attracted buyers then, the Warner film library, HBO, DC Studios and CNN, remain unmatched.

Politics and regulation

Any merger of Paramount and Warner would once have faced formidable antitrust obstacles, particularly the idea of combining CBS News and CNN. In the current environment, analysts believe the Trump administration would adopt a more flexible stance. Lawyers close to regulators suggest the focus would be less on market concentration and more on assurances of political neutrality.

David Ellison has already moved to address such concerns. He appointed Kenneth Weinstein, former head of a conservative think-tank and an adviser to President Trump, as ombudsman at CBS News. He has also held discussions with Bari Weiss, founder of The Free Press, about taking a senior role in a combined news operation.

“The White House will be looking at whether ownership brings stability,” said a former competition official. “If Ellison can make that case, approval becomes easier.”

Industry reaction

The news has unsettled Hollywood, where consolidation has long been expected but seldom on this scale. One studio boss described the potential merger as having “released the animal spirits” in an industry wearied by cost pressures and shrinking margins.

“They have had a free ride for too long,” the executive said of Netflix. “A Paramount-Warner combination could be the first to challenge them head on.”

A dynasty defining moment

For David Ellison, the stakes are as much personal as corporate. Skydance, founded 15 years ago with his father’s support, has grown into a producer of blockbuster franchises and an emerging force in animation under John Lasseter. But controlling two of Hollywood’s most historic studios would elevate him from player to powerbroker.

His father’s fortune provides the means, but it is David’s strategy that drives the ambition. In an industry where dynasties have often faltered, from the Murdochs in media to the Redstones in film, the Ellisons are attempting to secure a legacy by combining Silicon Valley capital with Hollywood content.

Larry Ellison’s wealth may dominate the headlines, but the unfolding drama is about his son. Whether David Ellison can knit together Paramount and Warner, modernise their infrastructure and withstand political scrutiny will determine not just the future of two studios, but his place in Hollywood history.