Overview

• David Ellison’s Skydance closed its merger with Paramount Global in August, forming Paramount Skydance and giving the family a major stake across Paramount and CBS.
• President Trump publicly named Larry Ellison to a prospective U.S. buyer group for TikTok, and the White House said Oracle would lead data and privacy with the algorithm controlled in America.
• Ellison’s advocacy for centralized data and AI-enabled monitoring has intensified privacy worries about potential access to TikTok’s U.S. user information.
• Paramount Skydance is reported to be preparing a possible bid of roughly $80 billion for Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN and HBO, though no deal has been struck.
• Early moves at CBS, including hiring Kenneth Weinstein as ombudsman and talks to acquire The Free Press with a senior role for Bari Weiss, have fueled concerns about a rightward editorial shift as analysts see uneven antitrust risk under the current administration.