The Ellisons’ Hollywood Adventure Is About to Scale Up

This is a big week for Larry Ellison. His family’s yearlong pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery, owner of one of Hollywood’s most iconic film studios, comes to a conclusion on Tuesday when the Ellison-controlled Paramount Skydance is scheduled to complete the $110 billion purchase of WBD. It’s been barely a year since the Ellisons got control of Paramount itself. Once the latest deal is done, Ellison and his son David—who is running the show—will be among the most powerful people in film, television and streaming. 

Yes, techies really have taken over entertainment. The question now is whether the Ellisons can make money on this bet. That won’t be easy. The combined company—to be called Skydance, David Ellison announced on Friday—will carry debt amounting to $79 billion. That’s a hefty amount given that the company  starts life with annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $12 billion. David Ellison’s pitch has been that he’ll find “synergies” (cost cuts in plain English) of $6 billion, bumping up projected Ebitda to $18 billion.