David Ellison Shakes up Media With Bari Weiss, Rumored WBD Bid

Big changes are happening in media — and one last name is at the center of it all: Ellison.

David Ellison is showing his ambitions are far greater than using media to buy more influence and Hollywood glamour. The son of tech billionaire Larry Ellison is shaking up storied institutions in news and entertainment as he seeks to build Paramount into a new media empire at lightning speed.

The clearest sign yet of Ellison’s willingness to ruffle feathers and fundamentally remake iconic American media brands was his Monday installation of Bari Weiss atop Paramount’s CBS News, the 98-year-old institution home to the likes of Walter Cronkite and “60 Minutes.”

Weiss, a former New York Times Opinion writer who resigned from The Gray Lady in 2020, has spent the years since building an anti-woke alternative to traditional media. That effort, The Free Press, is far from CBS News in sensibility and approach. It’s digital-first, subscription-focused, peppered with commentary, and routinely takes stances on hot-button issues, such as Israel’s war in Gaza and campus speech.

In buying The Free Press for about $150 million and putting Weiss in charge of CBS News as editor-in-chief, Ellison is sending a message: I’m not just a walking checkbook.

Warner Bros. Discovery, with its century-old studio and established news network CNN, could be his next target, according to a Wall Street Journal report from last month, which said the Ellison family was interested in acquiring it.

Ellison’s move fast and break things approach — backed by his father’s billions — has inspired both anticipation and fear among his employees and industry insiders. His bold plans to shake up some of entertainment’s most venerable brands could lead to a new industry powerhouse, but come with casualties.

“There’s a vision at the top — we didn’t have that,” a veteran Paramount software engineer said.

The Ellison media portfolio could soon influence everything from TikTok videos — Trump has said Larry Ellison will be a major player in TikTok’s US spin-off — to TV news and films on the silver screen. Further media consolidation could also result in thousands of layoffs and fewer studios available to fund TV and film projects.

“It’s an asteroid hitting Hollywood,” Adam Conover, a comedy writer who frequently speaks out on Hollywood labor issues, said of a potential merger of Paramount and WBD. “It’ll further hasten the end of the entertainment industry in LA.”

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Hollywood’s hopes and fears

When whispers first began that Ellison was interested in buying Paramount in 2023, Hollywood seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Prior to Ellison, Paramount was floundering. There was a drawn-out sale process under Shari Redstone, internal conflict, and a failure to keep pace with the likes of Netflix and Disney in a rapidly changing industry.

Ellison, 42, brought Hollywood bona fides from his success with Skydance, with hits like “Top Gun: Maverick” and several “Mission: Impossible” installments.

He also brought cash. His father, the second-wealthiest person in the world, seemed willing to back his son’s ventures.

“You can’t underestimate the second richest person in the world,” a talent agent said as the deal closed in August. “I think we’re all optimistic.”

The younger Ellison quickly got to spending. He hired Cindy Holland, a prominent exec who helped make Netflix a streaming superpower, and vowed to roughly double Paramount’s film output. He shelled out over $7 billion to secure the US rights to UFC and poached top talent, including the Duffer brothers, who created “Stranger Things.”

“Everywhere you look, he’s throwing money,” LightShed Partners media analyst Rich Greenfield said. “That’s what Hollywood gets excited about.”

A bigger wave of disruption

As Ellison’s broader plans have begun to take shape, the optimism has taken on a jittery edge.

There’s a “nervous energy” at Paramount, an engineering manager said. Ellison is seeking to cut $2 billion in existing spending, and thousands of layoffs are anticipated.

“We’ve been bracing for impact for a year,” a Paramount marketing employee said of potential layoffs.

That could be just the opening act if the Ellisons actually buy WBD and merge the Hollywood giants. Forming a mega-studio would reorganize Hollywood as we know it, leading to further job cuts, one fewer buyer of content, and — if CBS and CNN were to combine — a larger potential kingdom for Weiss.

“On the surface, having a financially healthy and strong Paramount is great for Hollywood. The danger comes in if this is step one to multistudio consolidation,” Greenfield said.

Ellison has also shown an un-Hollywood-like embrace of technology. In a town that prides itself on its time-honored studio lots and has largely been cautious about artificial intelligence, Ellison talks about building a “studio in the sky” and harnessing AI to create content faster and on the cheap.

Then there’s the question of politics. While Larry Ellison has long been an outspoken Trump ally, David Ellison donated to Biden as recently as last year and has more opaque politics.

That hasn’t stopped the angst around David Ellison from taking on a political tone, and the appointment of Weiss — whose The Free Press is perceived in media circles as friendly to both conservatives and billionaires — isn’t helping.

“We Americans have to be concerned about the consolidation of huge billionaires getting control of nearly all the major news outlets,” former longtime CBS News anchor Dan Rather said on a radio show last month.

For those who worry about what Ellison’s vision will lead to, the question remains: Is there any sustainable alternative? A Hollywood ending may not be possible for the old Hollywood giants.

Streaming hasn’t made up for the decline of linear TV, while YouTube and social media are gobbling up more of people’s time.

Wall Street analysts pointed out that many of Ellison’s potential cuts would likely be in Paramount’s fading linear TV business, home to networks like Nickelodeon and Comedy Central. If it weren’t Ellison holding the hatchet, someone else would be. And a CBS viewed as “less left-leaning” may be good for the business under the Trump administration, analyst Ric Prentiss of Raymond James wrote.

Paramount could be a “dynamic global media company,” Band of America analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich wrote when the merger closed. “However, there are no easy fixes.”