Hoo boy, this Paramount merger. Whoops, sorry, the company name is Skydance now—which is a dumb name with an even dumber new logo.
A Skydance billboard is displayed outside the Paramount Global office in Times Square on Oct. 6, in New York. AP
This merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery got approved solely because David Ellison, head of this monstrosity, and his daddy, Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, are big friends of President Donald Trump in particular and Republicans generally. Did you know that Larry Ellison, the real money machine behind this merger, once gave $15 million in one go to Sen. Tim Scott’s PAC? And threw a dark money lifeline to Trump during the 2024 elections, donating a nice, untraceable $45 million? And also, of course, paying $16 million to Trump directly to “settle” a fake lawsuit against CBS also helped smooth the way for this merger.
Now, none of us is going to be able to avoid giving money to the Ellisons. That’s because, now that the merger has closed, Skydance owns so, so many media properties:
Paramount, which includes a movie studio, TV network, animation company, Paramount+ streaming, and so on
CBS
Skydance
Warner Bros. Discovery
Warner Bros. Pictures
New Line Cinema
DC Studios
Nickelodeon/Nick Jr
MTV
VHI
CMT
Comedy Central
Showtime
BET
TV Land
CNN
HBO
Cartoon Network/Adult Swim
TBS
TNS
TruTV
Discovery Channel
HGTV
Food Network
TLC
Magnolia
OWN
Animal Planet
Pluto TV
And that’s not counting the multiple gaming companies they picked up as well.
Remember when we used to have antitrust law in America instead of allowing media consolidation as long as you bribe the president with enough money?
Good times. Gone times.
Besides this mega-merger being a clear violation of antitrust law, it’s also a hilariously dumb move that is likely to topple under its own weight. Remember the AOL-Time Warner merger? When that one fell apart in 2009, there was a $$99 billion write-down. Or AT&T-Time Warner, which The New York Times speculated was “the worst merger ever”? It lasted a whopping four years, and AT&T shareholders lost about $47 billion. Masterful gambit, sirs.
Additionally, in a normal world, no one would be letting failson David Ellison run anything, especially because the dude is already running CBS News into the ground.
Related | Has the MAGA makeover left CBS News beyond repair?
Well, to be fair, it’s Bari Weiss running it into the ground. But Ellison hired her, and he could fire her anytime if he wanted to save the once-venerable network news giant. But since Ellison bought CBS News and installed Weiss at the helm, “60 Minutes” had its worst premiere of the 21st century. “CBS Nightly News” rankings are plummeting after Weiss hired Tony Dokoupil as anchor, and major talent like Anderson Cooper has fled the vaunted Tiffany Network
But to be fair to Ellison: He understands the assignment, which is to turn this media behemoth into a pro-Trump sycophantic machine, and he’s toddling along nicely on that one.
But the merger scooping up major movie studios may have another upside for David Ellison: a chance to relive his glory days as an actor. Yes, apparently Skydance was basically created so that David could have an acting career, and of course, daddy helped finance his failson’s failed movie.
Ultimately, this mega-merger will likely fall apart. But until then, we’re going to be faced with a barrage of garbage and a huge narrowing of choices. Here’s hoping that when the Democrats retake the White House, the president immediately installs antitrust hawk Lina Khan, who chaired the Federal Trade Commission under former President Joe Biden, and she tears this mess apart.
We’ll get straight to the point: The financial hardships that Daily Kos is facing this year are tough.
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