Less than a year ago, David Ellison was the head of a small manufacturing company. Now he is one step away from becoming the “king of Hollywood”. With Donald Trump's explicit consent, the Ellison family is building a media empire, writes CNN.
Continued below the video:
Ellison, 43, president of Paramount Skydance, has emerged victorious in the war for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) – a media industry giant and owner of, among others, TVN. If the deal closes, he will run one of the largest film studios, streaming platforms and television networks in the industry.
David Ellison – the son of billionaire and Oracle founder Larry Ellison – has been a Hollywood producer for two decades. In the years 2005-2010 he tried his hand at acting. He appeared in such films and series as: “An Honest Scam”, “Flyboys – Heroic Squadron”, “Clean Slate”, “Have a Nice Day?”.
The owner of TVN will go to the Ellison family
In 2006, David co-founded Skydance with his father, which completed its purchase of Paramount in August 2025 and began courting Warner Bros. almost immediately. Discovery.
However, it was Netflix that seemed to have the upper hand for months. The turnaround came on Thursday evening (Friday at night Polish time), when Netflix announced that it was withdrawing from the game. Paramount must obtain the regulator's approval, but it looks like WBD, and with it the TVN station, will end up in the hands of those close to Donald Trump. And it is no secret that Prime Minister Donald Tusk is not entirely on terms with the US president's environment. Does the Polish government have any room for maneuver here? We explain in this text.
It is also no secret that Paramount's offer was favored by the Donald Trump administration.
David Ellison appeared on Tuesday at Trump's annual address to Congress as a guest of Senator Lindsey Graham, who is close to the president.
Since Trump took power, it's not just Paramount that has fallen into the hands of the Ellison family. The Ellisons' companies are part of the consortium that took control of American TikTok, notes CNBC.
The owner of TVN is to go to Paramount. A turnaround on the final stretch
Donald Trump announced a few weeks earlier that he would not interfere to the WBD “war” between Netflix and Paramount. However, the US president expected that the possible transaction would lead to a change of ownership of CNN – a news station with which – to put it mildly – he is not on board.
Only Paramount submitted an offer to take over CNN and other stations (including TVN). Netflix only wanted to acquire Warner Bros.-owned properties. film studios and streaming platforms.
The reversal came on the same day that Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos had a meeting at the White House. “Sarandos was seen leaving the White House with a somber expression on his face,” CNN writes.
A few hours after this visit, Netflix announced that it was pulling out of the game. Netflix's decision also came less than an hour after WBD's management decided that Paramount's latest offer was “better” than Netflix's.
Source: CNN, CNBC, iMDb
