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The Silence of the Ellisons

An inside view into the kremlinology of the Ellison–WBD deal—the surprising comms plan, the eerie post-announcement silence, and the unintended consequences pertaining to the final price.

larry david ellison
It’s not all that clear to me how the Ellisons get the WBD share price to float back to Earth, except perhaps by delaying any bid, perhaps for months. Photo: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
William D. Cohan
September 28, 2025

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For the life of me, I still can’t figure out the timing of the September 11 leak to The Wall Street Journal that Paramount Skydance, the newly created Big Media company formed by the Ellisons and RedBird Capital, was planning a cash and stock bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. It’s been 17 days, and there is still no PSKY bid forthcoming for David Zaslav’s WBD. My partner Matt Belloni noted recently that Ellison was keeping a very tight circle of trust on the deal, and he might have even submitted it. (Paramount would not confirm it, and a spokesperson told me that the company is now locked down tighter than a prisoner in solitary confinement.) The silence is deafening.