David Ellison, CEO of Paramount Skydance. Less than a year ago, David Ellison was the head of a small production company. Today, he is on the verge of being crowned Hollywood's new king.
On Thursday evening, the Paramount Skydance CEO emerged victorious from a bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery. For Paramount, acquiring Warner is a crucial move for survival, yet this victory was uncertain from the start and remains not entirely finalized.
In this contest, Ellison's opponent was streaming giant Netflix, the industry's largest and most influential player. The battle saw direct intervention from US President Donald Trump and deep involvement from Saudi capital. The competition intensified to the point where threats of a hostile takeover emerged.
But Ellison prevailed. If the deal ultimately closes—it still requires shareholder approval and may face rigorous regulatory scrutiny—he will command one of the largest portfolios in the media industry, encompassing a major film studio, a streaming platform, and a network of television channels.
The Path to the Top: From Production Novice to Hollywood's New Ruler Ellison, son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, has been a producer in Hollywood for two decades. In 2006, he co-founded Skydance Media with his billionaire father, participating as an investor in blockbuster franchises like "Star Trek," "Mission: Impossible," and "Top Gun." In 2024, as Paramount descended into chaos and financial distress and began seeking a buyer, Ellison appeared as a "white knight," completing the acquisition of Paramount in August 2025.
However, Paramount remained unsustainable under Ellison's leadership alone. Paramount+ was an uncompetitive streaming platform, possessing only a few hot IPs, NFL broadcast rights, and a host of unresolved issues. In 2025, Paramount's film studio did not have a single entry in the year's top ten box office hits. Its cable television channels produced almost no original content, relying on a handful of shows like "South Park" and "The Daily Show" to stay afloat. Nielsen data showed CBS viewership plummeted by 12% in 2025.
To compete against traditional media giants like Disney and Netflix, as well as social platforms like TikTok and YouTube, Paramount needed to achieve scale. Consequently, shortly after acquiring Paramount, Ellison set his sights on Warner Bros. Discovery.
Just two months after Skydance acquired Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery initiated a sale process. Netflix was the first to present an offer favored by Warner's board.
For months, Netflix held the advantage: it had ample cash and planned a tax-free spinoff of CNN and other cable assets before acquiring HBO Max and Warner Bros. film studio. Warner's board consistently believed that Paramount's all-in acquisition proposal significantly undervalued the company's assets.
Warner also questioned Paramount's financial capacity, raising doubts about the Saudi financing behind the deal and whether Larry Ellison would genuinely provide financial guarantees. Even after Paramount allowed Warner to review its finances and proposed structuring the Saudi investors as non-voting partners without board seats, Warner still leaned towards Netflix.
In response, Paramount threatened a hostile takeover, announcing it would take its offer directly to shareholders. Last week, the situation reversed: Paramount announced a revised offer, increasing the bid by $1 per share to $31, ultimately winning the approval of Warner's board on Thursday. Hours later, Netflix's CEO concluded a meeting at the White House, and the company abruptly announced its withdrawal from the bidding, shocking the market.
The precise reason for Netflix's swift exit remains unclear. It was evidently aware that Paramount would increase its offer.
Donald Trump remained a key variable in the deal. Although presidents typically do not intervene in antitrust investigations, Trump explicitly expressed support for Paramount, a stance linked to Ellison's political affiliations. Ellison has previously donated to Democrats but has recently cultivated a closer relationship with Trump.
The Significance of the Deal: Reshaping the Hollywood Landscape If completed, the deal will permanently redraw the map of Hollywood.
The film industry will lose one of its five major studios. Paramount+, which struggled to survive independently, would, by integrating HBO Max, become a genuine competitor to Netflix, Amazon, and Disney+. The combined cable networks from Discovery and ViacomCBS would also gain greater leverage in negotiations with advertisers and cable operators.
The media industry is in crisis, and this merger could potentially help both companies navigate these turbulent times.
But the cost is immense: Paramount projects the merger will yield $6 billion in synergies and cost savings, which will almost certainly result in thousands of job losses.
Labor unions, already discontent with industry consolidation, are likely to create obstacles for Paramount. One of Paramount's most important stars, Taylor Sheridan, writer of "Yellowstone" and "Land Man," reportedly plans to move to NBCUniversal after his current contract expires.
Since Ellison took control of Paramount, the company has been accused of making concessions to Trump: Paramount paid a multi-million dollar settlement after Trump sued over the editing of a "60 Minutes" interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris; it canceled "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," a program sharply critical of Trump; and "60 Minutes" temporarily pulled a report about a Salvadoran prison—a facility where the Trump administration had sent some deportees.
These controversies will accompany the integration of Paramount and Warner, and Warner's CNN is a media outlet Trump has publicly expressed disdain for.
Future Outlook: Approvals, Integration, and Industry Upheaval The deal requires approval from both shareholders and regulators. Netflix's proposal faced high regulatory hurdles in the US due to potential market monopolization concerns, whereas Paramount's acquisition of Warner is expected to encounter relatively less domestic regulatory resistance.
Although the merger reduces the number of major players in Hollywood, the new entity's scale will still not match that of Netflix. Regardless of the deal's outcome, significant layoffs seem inevitable—in the rapidly evolving media environment, neither company possesses the stamina to survive independently. They lack the theme park businesses of Disney and Universal, and the entire industry has been fundamentally disrupted by YouTube and social media.
Overseas regulatory approvals may prove even more challenging, meaning the finalization of the deal could take months, or even more than a year.
This transaction could also trigger industry emulation. Giants like Disney, Comcast, and Sony may find themselves without potential partners, forced to pursue their own mergers to achieve the scale needed to compete against the newly formed media behemoth.
The advantages of scale might stabilize the new company temporarily, but even with its massive size, the long-term prospects for a combined Paramount-Warner remain uncertain.
Audiences are visiting movie theaters less frequently and spending less time on scripted comedies and series, increasingly captivated by their smartphone screens. Interest in news and traditional television continues to decline.
Yet for David Ellison, there was almost no alternative. He is poised to take control of Paramount and Warner Bros... and, in effect, all of Hollywood.
Comments