{"id":131185,"date":"2025-08-09T07:45:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T07:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/131185\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T07:45:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T07:45:12","slug":"a-20-year-david-ellison-plan-ai-intrigue-and-more-paramount-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/131185\/","title":{"rendered":"A 20-Year David Ellison Plan, AI Intrigue and More Paramount Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tOn Thursday, a trio of\u00a0Hollywood Reporter\u00a0staffers attended a presentation by new Paramount owner David Ellison,\u00a0who sat alongside\u00a0his investors from RedBird Capital and new executives at his company\u2019s Manhattan headquarters to lay out\u00a0his vision<\/a> for the embattled media firm.<\/p>\n

\n\tEllison & Co. had just spent some $8 billion for the 113-year-old studio and have hopes \u2014 really, a need \u2014 to turn it into a tech company<\/a>\u00a0more equipped to handle the realities of the 2020\u2019s. Shortly after the meet-and-greet wrapped, the THR reporters debriefed on what they\u2019d just heard (and didn\u2019t hear) from the incoming ownership.<\/p>\n

\n\tSteven Zeitchik:<\/strong> So I have to admit, I came into the event feeling like it was just going to be more of the same \u2014 find efficiencies, unlock shareholder value, all that MBA snooze lingo \u2014 and was pleasantly surprised to actually hear a plan that kinda makes sense: combine the Ellison tech-savvy (and money) with all those iconic Paramount properties.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlex Weprin:<\/strong>\u00a0It seems like they have a vision. Whether they can execute, that\u2019s a whole other question. But I came away thinking this isn\u2019t just a pure vanity play where they buy it and they don\u2019t know what they\u2019re going to do with it. They really think technology can change the entertainment industry, even if they were not as forthcoming as they could have been.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ<\/strong>: A vision and also advantages no one else has. Like Google-YouTube and Netflix don\u2019t have the library or history Paramount does, and of course most other legacy companies don\u2019t have the tech savvy from their owner. They could argue they now have both in a way no company has before.<\/p>\n

\n\tAW<\/strong>: That\u2019s true, except if you look at Nielsen Gauge<\/a>, YouTube is adding share of viewership on TV, and they\u2019re a pure tech company. So you may just not need to be a legacy TV company. But maybe there\u2019s room for an entertainment company to come in and say we can build a tech product too, a kind of pipeline that is consumer friendly and make people watch more of your stuff, whatever it might be, that can compete with YouTube and Netflix, which are a tier above when it comes to sucking up consumers\u2019 time.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ<\/strong>: Totally. I felt like that was the real frustration talking to their team yesterday, like we spend all this money to produce\u00a0Matlock and then we only get a viewer one hour a week while YouTube spends a lot less and they have them five hours a day. Erik, tell me if I\u2019m being too credulous here. Did anything they say convince you?<\/p>\n

\n\tErik Hayden<\/strong>: One thing I was struck by is how Ellison said<\/a> I\u2019m doing this for the next 20 years. Obviously it\u2019s hyperbole, but the exec team also said this is the first family since Walt Disney to put a lot of their own money into a company. They\u2019re framing themselves as an infusion into Hollywood rather than as an extractor. They\u2019re also framing the company as a long-term play. The problem is that David Ellison is now the CEO of a public company and he\u2019s going to have to react to quarterly earnings and the investor class, and is going to be hearing a lot of \u201care they big enough to compete with Netflix\u201d and all the narratives we hear daily.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ:<\/strong>\u00a0Yeah, and those analysts don\u2019t care about what ol\u2019 Walt did but just about the business. And certainly all these legacy cable companies or even CBS is stuff that doesn\u2019t get them excited. So it\u2019s a little bit like Warner Bros. Discovery where Wall Street could just want cuts and a fire sale. The difference though is these guys may be too rich to care. Like seriously, does the stock price matter to them at that level.<\/p>\n

\n\tAW:<\/strong>\u00a0You know, I don\u2019t think David Ellison or even new CEO Jeff Shell needs to hit their bonus numbers the way David Zaslav does.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ<\/strong>: I think David Ellison got the bonus that mattered when he turned 18.<\/p>\n

\n\tAW:<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s actually a meaningful thing; their compensation packages are lower at the outset. The salaries are in line, but their target bonuses are $1.5 million<\/a>. Which really is below average in the industry. So I really don\u2019t think they have the reason to hit the numbers in a quarter the way other executives do. RedBird wants to see return but Ellison is in a different position.<\/p>\n

\n\tEH<\/strong>: I wonder if it would work better if they went private.<\/p>\n

\n\tAW<\/strong>: Given how much ownership they have it probably wouldn\u2019t take that much. Might be something they think about down the line.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ<\/strong>: In the meantime let\u2019s not forget they\u2019ll be doing cutting too, which Wall Street always likes. They pretty much said that yesterday. Jeff Shell was asked what he was most excited about and he literally said efficiency. I could almost feel everyone else on the panel balk. It\u2019s like dude, we\u2019re all talking big vision and then he\u2019s like, yeah, I\u2019m going to get that Redstone gristle right outta here.<\/p>\n

\n\tEH:<\/strong>\u00a0And the only detail they gave on the cutting was that they wouldn\u2019t do it on a quarter-by-quarter basis, and it won\u2019t be death by 1,000 cuts like we saw with Warner Bros Discovery. It was just, look to the Nov. 6 earnings call for more.<\/p>\n

\n\tAW<\/strong>:\u00a0I think there\u2019s going to be a big, big, dramatic reorganization. They\u2019re going to talk about it in November, and then it\u2019s going to happen very quickly after.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ:<\/strong>\u00a0What do we think the company looks like when that\u2019s all done \u2014 maybe just a movie studio and then whatever the souped-up Paramount+ is? And CBS, for the time being.<\/p>\n

\n\tEH<\/strong>: It seems like that\u2019s how it\u2019s going to be. Ellison appears to view it as Paramount Pictures \u2026 and everything else.<\/p>\n

\n\tAW:<\/strong>\u00a0I guess the only reason I\u2019d push back is that nobody would argue a movie studio is a growth business. Maybe you can add more films to the slate because they\u2019ve released so few films over the last couple of years. But theatrical is not an overall growth business.<\/p>\n

\n\tEH<\/strong>: Maybe then big IP \u2013\u00a0Top Gun, Terminator, Star Trek. Wherever it gets monetized.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ<\/strong>: And film franchises can still bring in the bucks. I mean they made $1.2 billion just in the last couple years just on\u00a0Mission: Impossible\u00a0movies. Split with theaters, of course, but still. And you get the sense Ellison loves getting a\u00a0Top Gun-type hit cooking. He also really seems to want to fix Paramount+ \u2013 which people forget by the way has like 80 million subscribers.<\/p>\n

\n\tEH<\/strong>: And also had the two most-watched original shows of the year with Taylor Sheridan\u2019s Landman and 1923, with MobLand at No. 4, according to Luminate\u2019s tally.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ<\/strong>: The question is the algorithm, can they get it to anything close to Netflix, where they just recommend stuff that keeps you on the platform.<\/p>\n

\n\tAW<\/strong>: It will be interesting when Cindy Holland talks next week in L.A. on the studio lot about what their plans are. She comes from Netflix and they\u2019re the masters at just keeping people hooked.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ:<\/strong>\u00a0You get the sense Ellison really wants to own it, the distribution. The exec team implied that when shows do better on YouTube than they do on an owned-and-operated platform it\u2019s a loss. It\u2019s really all about keeping it tightly on P+.<\/p>\n

\n\tAW<\/strong>: They make a lot more money when they\u2019re distributing. It used to be \u201ccontent is king\u201d but really it\u2019s turning into \u201cdistribution is king.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEH:<\/strong>\u00a0And they\u2019ve got a decent brand to do that, despite everything. Everyone knows what a Paramount+ show is now \u2013 the action, the solid Middle America, Sheridan-esque premium brand. You can build on that.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ<\/strong>: Speaking of, well, whatever the opposite is of building, we have to mention CBS News. Like at this point do they just want this whole thing to go away.<\/p>\n

\n\tEH<\/strong>: I thought it was funny Ellison kept saying we\u2019re staying nonpolitical. I didn\u2019t get the sense he wants to be a media operator.<\/p>\n

\n\tAW<\/strong>: Like a lot of companies I think they view the news division as more of a pain in the butt.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ<\/strong>: Which is what makes Bari Weiss and all\u00a0The Free Press\u00a0rumors strange. Does he really covet it?<\/p>\n

\n\tEH<\/strong>: I thought when he was asked yesterday about\u00a0The Free Press\u00a0it was interesting that he didn\u2019t say \u201coh we really like what they\u2019re doing,\u201d which is what someone may typically say aside from a \u201cwe don\u2019t comment on rumors and speculation.\u201d He just said something like \u201cI took 50 meetings at Sun Valley and that was one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ<\/strong>: Yeah that may be a tempest in a teapot. It might be more interesting to look at what he could do with influencers. He wants cheap YouTube-y content, there\u2019s a whole lot of political content right there. DC Draino on one hand, Meidas Touch or Hasan Piker on the other, boom, you\u2019ve got your suck-up-consumer time. Whether you\u2019ve got your good-for-democracy time, I don\u2019t know. But you got your hours.<\/p>\n

\n\tAW<\/strong>: I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if his news strategy was driven by, you know, more opinionated people. Because the funny thing is they talk a lot about being dedicated to truth but I think in today\u2019s media environment truth is just not that valuable.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ<\/strong>: A slogan for late-stage capitalism.<\/p>\n

\n\tAW<\/strong>: But I mean it\u2019s true. If he\u2019s looking at what he can monetize there are a whole lot of opinion voices on the content creator side.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ:<\/strong>. Alright if we\u2019re talking influencers we have to address this other elephant in the room: TikTok. If Larry Ellison buys it and it somehow gets aligned with Paramount it\u2019s a game-changer for the younger Ellison, right? Now they have these crazy algorithms and millions of users and they can really go off.<\/p>\n

\n\tEH<\/strong>: I just\u2014<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ<\/strong>: Not feeling it?<\/p>\n

\n\tEH:<\/strong> I just don\u2019t know that the businesses have anything to do with each other.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ<\/strong>: Fair. But that\u2019s where the AI and the personalization comes in. Ellison was talking about how he wants it so that pretty soon \u2013 obviously the tech isn\u2019t there yet, but when it is \u2014 you can have a conversation with your favorite character. That would be the brass ring for him, wouldn\u2019t it? TikTok with SpongeBob?<\/p>\n

\n\tAW<\/strong>: I think if they buy TikTok it is a gamechanger. They become a juggernaut that can challenge YouTube and Netflix.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ<\/strong>: It has to be, right? No one in history has ever owned so much legacy media and so much social power. Well Rupert did with MySpace but let\u2019s not talk about that.<\/p>\n

\n\tAW:<\/strong>\u00a0It really feels like it would change everything.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ<\/strong>: And if he doesn\u2019t? Like what\u2019s the ceiling here? Just staying alive?<\/p>\n

\n\tAW<\/strong>: I think there\u2019s ample room to turn the business around \u2013 you do a better job at the movie studio and a better job at the TV studio and a better job at streaming, you could have a Universal-level business.<\/p>\n

\n\tSZ<\/strong>: And a Disney-level business?<\/p>\n

\n\tAW<\/strong>: I wouldn\u2019t go that far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Thursday, a trio of\u00a0Hollywood Reporter\u00a0staffers attended a presentation by new Paramount owner David Ellison,\u00a0who sat alongside\u00a0his investors…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":131186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[171,77684,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-131185","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-paramount-skydance","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114997698517746841","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}