I'll be straight with you: the original content that landed on my desk about this story was basically a Google cookies page. That's right. A wall of "accept our cookies" in 47 different languages. Journalism in 2025, folks.
But the headline from the Hollywood Reporter says everything that needs to be said, and this story is way too juicy to let slide. So let's get into it.
What's at Stake
David Ellison — son of Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle, that gentleman who competes with Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to see who has more zeros in their bank account — is in the middle of the biggest play of his life. Through Skydance Media, he's closing the acquisition of Paramount Global, the parent company of Paramount Pictures, CBS, MTV, a content empire that once ruled Hollywood.
And when I say "delivered," the headline suggests Ellison did his part: convinced the shareholders, lined up the money, put the deal structure together. Now the ball is in Makan Delrahim's court.
Who Is Makan Delrahim and Why You Should Care
If you don't know the name, you should. Makan Delrahim was the head of the Antitrust Division at the U.S. Department of Justice during the Trump administration. The guy who tried to block the AT&T-Time Warner merger in 2018. He lost in court, but he showed he had the guts to pick a fight with giants.
Now he's on the other side of the table, working to make the deal happen. The irony is delicious, isn't it? The guy who spent his career blocking mergers now needs to push one through.
It's like Agent Smith from The Matrix deciding that, actually, he wants to help Neo.
The Context Nobody's Telling You
Hollywood is bleeding. That's not an exaggeration. The traditional studios spent billions trying to compete with Netflix in streaming, burned through cash like it was kindling at a bonfire, and now they're all looking for a savior.
Paramount, specifically, became that company everyone wants to buy but nobody wants to pay full price for. Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder, spent years holding down the family fort. Until she couldn't anymore.
Ellison showed up with Skydance and a fat check. But closing a deal this size in the U.S. isn't just about signing papers. You need to clear the regulatory gauntlet. And with the American government increasingly paranoid about media consolidation — especially after the Warner-Discovery merger disaster, which destroyed value like few deals in recent history — nothing is guaranteed.
The Elephant in the Room
Here's what bugs me: yet another billionaire's kid buying a chunk of Hollywood. Not that Ellison is incompetent — Skydance produced solid films, like Top Gun: Maverick, which saved Paramount from a catastrophic year. But the question Nassim Taleb would ask is simple: what's the real downside for him?
If the deal works out, Ellison becomes the new Hollywood mogul. If it tanks... well, daddy's got over 200 billion dollars. Skin in the game is relative when your last name is Ellison.
Compare that to the thousands of Paramount employees who could lose their jobs in the post-merger "synergies." For them, the risk is existential. For David, it's an ambitious project.
What This Means for Your Wallet
If you're an investor, pay attention to the media sector. Consolidation creates opportunity — and it creates destruction. The Warner-Discovery merger (that deal Delrahim tried to block when it was AT&T-Time Warner) resulted in a stock that dropped more than 70% since the spin-off.
Seventy percent.
Anyone who bought in during the hype got a beating that makes a spanking from your mom look like a love tap.
The lesson? A merger is not a synonym for appreciation. Sometimes it's a synonym for complexity, debt, and broken promises.
Keep an eye on whether Delrahim can get the deal past the regulatory agencies. If it goes through, the Hollywood map changes. If it doesn't, Paramount keeps drifting — and somebody else will take a shot at buying it.
The question that lingers is: would you trust your money in a deal where the buyer has nothing to lose?
Yeah. Me neither.
