David Ellison has wasted no time making his mark on Paramount since taking the reins just a few weeks ago. In that short span, he has unleashed a wave of dealmaking that underscores his ambition to transform the legacy media giant into something more competitive in the streaming era.
So far, Ellison has committed $7 billion for the rights to stream UFC fights, locked down a deal with the powerhouse producers behind Stranger Things, and secured the rights to adapt the popular video game Call of Duty into a film. And that’s just the beginning.
The spending spree doesn’t even include Paramount’s $1.5 billion agreement with the creators of South Park — a deal that was finalized just before Ellison took control, but still bore his blessing. Nor does it cover whatever negotiations he may or may not be pursuing to acquire Bari Weiss’ Free Press. The point is clear: Ellison is spending big, signaling that Paramount, long seen as a struggling Hollywood studio, is preparing to play offense.
The Larry Ellison Factor
The reason David Ellison has the latitude to spend so aggressively is simple: his father. Larry Ellison, cofounder of Oracle and one of the wealthiest men alive, is the financial backbone behind David’s Paramount takeover.
On Wednesday, Larry Ellison’s wealth hit a new high. A surge in Oracle’s stock price added more than $100 billion to his net worth in a single day, bringing his fortune to an estimated $400 billion. That milestone briefly made him the richest person in the world, eclipsing other tech titans like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
To be clear, David Ellison is not directly using his father’s fortune to bankroll Paramount’s latest deals. Paramount remains a publicly traded company and finances its own operations, acquisitions, and programming. In fact, the studio is expected to announce another wave of layoffs this fall as it looks to reduce costs in other areas.
But what Larry Ellison’s wealth does provide is something arguably more valuable than cash: time and security. Unlike other media moguls, whose fortunes are deeply tied to the performance of their companies, Larry Ellison is so wealthy that he can treat Paramount like a long-term project. Buying and supporting a troubled studio is not a high-stakes gamble for him — it’s something he can do with ease, much like when he casually pledged $1 billion to help Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover in 2022.
The Shield of Infinite Patience
For David Ellison, that backing translates into a near-infinite timeline to execute his vision. If Paramount makes a deal Wall Street doesn’t like and the stock takes a hit, he doesn’t need to panic. Unlike other CEOs who face constant pressure from investors, Ellison knows that he and his father ultimately control the company. Other shareholders may voice their frustration, but their power to change his course is limited.
It also means that David Ellison can think far bigger. If he decides he wants to expand Paramount’s reach by consolidating a competitor — say, by targeting Warner Bros. Discovery’s film studio — he won’t face the same financing hurdles that weigh on other industry executives. The Ellisons’ combined resources ensure that even bold, expensive moves are within reach.
A New Era for Paramount
Investors currently value Paramount at around $17 billion. To put that in perspective, Larry Ellison gained more than $100 billion in net worth in a single day this week — nearly six times Paramount’s entire market capitalization. That kind of wealth cushion makes the risks of turning around Paramount look relatively small in the grand scheme of things.
All of this was true before Larry Ellison’s record-breaking wealth surge. Now, it’s even more pronounced. David Ellison’s ability to spend, experiment, and reshape Paramount rests on a foundation that very few media executives can claim: the backing of one of the richest men in the world. And for Paramount, that could mean the difference between fading into irrelevance or finding a new path forward in an increasingly cutthroat entertainment landscape.
