Ellison family's media empire expands: Oracle owner now targets Warner Bros. Discovery

The Ellison family's aggressive expansion into American media continues as Skydance Media, backed by Oracle founder Larry Ellison's fortune, has submitted a revised $108.4 billion offer to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed receipt of the bid from Paramount Skydance and announced it will review the proposal with financial and legal advisors during a seven-day negotiating period, while maintaining its existing merger agreement with Netflix remains in effect.

Media Consolidation and Ideological Concerns

David Ellison's pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery follows his recent merger with Paramount and comes amid broader Ellison family investments in media and technology platforms. Larry Ellison's Oracle corporation recently acquired TikTok's US operations alongside partners Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch, restructuring the platform's ownership amid concerns about anti-Israel content. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had explicitly sought control over TikTok to counter rising anti-Israel sentiment, describing social media as Israel's "most important weapon" and the Ellison acquisition as "the most important purchase currently being made."

Concentration of Power Raises Questions

The successive acquisitions—Paramount, CBS, TikTok's US operations, and now potentially Warner Bros. Discovery—would place an unprecedented array of television, film, news, and digital platforms under connected ownership. Critics warn that this consolidation, combined with the Ellison family's well-documented affinity for Israel, could enable coordinated pro-Israel messaging across entertainment, news, and social media. The development follows Netanyahu's explicit statement that after TikTok, the next target is Elon Musk's X platform, suggesting a coordinated strategy to reshape the information environment amid ongoing regional conflicts and debates over content moderation.