David Ellison is about to oversee one of the largest collections of media assets in the entertainment industry — and his family’s reach extends even further.
Paramount’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery cleared its final major hurdle Monday, with Ellison telling employees that the company expects the deal to close in approximately two weeks.
Once it does, the combined company will span nearly every corner of the media business, from television news and Hollywood studios to streaming, sports, cable networks and some of the industry’s biggest franchises.
And the Ellison family’s media reach doesn’t stop with Paramount. Through Larry Ellison’s Oracle, it also has a significant stake in the U.S. version of TikTok.
Here’s a look at the media assets within the Ellison orbit.
CBS and CNN
Paramount already owns CBS, including CBS News and its stations. Warner Bros. Discovery brings CNN, putting two major television news organizations under the same corporate parent.
The combined company will also control CBS’s 28 owned television stations.
As part of Paramount’s settlement with 12 state attorneys general, the company agreed to create a five-member board to monitor the editorial independence of CBS News and CNN.
Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros.
The deal will put two of Hollywood’s oldest studios under the same corporate umbrella.
Paramount Pictures is home to franchises including “Mission: Impossible,” “Top Gun” and “Star Trek,” while Warner Bros. brings “Harry Potter” and the DC universe, among other properties.
The combined studio portfolio also includes New Line Cinema, DC Studios and Skydance.
HBO Max, Paramount+ and Pluto TV
The combined company will control HBO Max and Paramount+, along with Paramount’s free ad-supported streaming service Pluto TV and WBD’s Discovery+.
HBO and Showtime will also sit under the same corporate roof.
CBS Sports and TNT Sports
The merger will bring together two major sports operations.
CBS Sports’ portfolio includes the NFL, college football and basketball, the Masters, PGA Championship and PGA Tour, UEFA soccer and the NWSL, among other properties.
TNT Sports brings Major League Baseball, the NHL, NASCAR and the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, while WBD also owns Eurosport.
MTV, TNT, Nickelodeon and Discovery
Paramount’s cable portfolio includes MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET and Paramount Network.
WBD brings TNT, TBS, Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies, Animal Planet and more.
Notably, Paramount will be prevented from grouping them all together when negotiating with TV distributors. For the next five years, it will have to treat them as separate entities.
Batman, Harry Potter, Star Trek and SpongeBob
Beyond its networks, studios and streaming services, the combined company will control some of the entertainment industry’s most valuable franchises and characters.
That includes Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman through DC, along with “Harry Potter,” “Star Trek,” “Mission: Impossible,” “Top Gun,” “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” among others.
Warner Bros. Games and Skydance’s interactive businesses add gaming to the mix.
And then there’s TikTok
TikTok isn’t owned by Paramount or the Ellisons, but Oracle owns a 15% stake in TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, the majority American-owned entity responsible for securing TikTok’s U.S. user data, apps and algorithm.
Larry Ellison is Oracle’s co-founder, executive chairman and chief technology officer and remains a major shareholder.
So while TikTok isn’t an Ellison-controlled asset in the way CBS, CNN or HBO will be, Oracle’s stake gives the family another significant connection to the media business.
Once the WBD deal closes, the Paramount-WBD portfolio will stretch across broadcast television, cable news, film, streaming, sports, publishing, animation and gaming — with the family’s reach extending further through Oracle’s stake in TikTok.
The post David Ellison’s Growing Media Empire: From CNN and HBO to ‘Harry Potter’ — and TikTok appeared first on TheWrap.
