Larry Ellison

Money Moves

Backing Paramount's hostile bid with $40.4B irrevocable personal guarantee

In late 2025, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) put itself in play, drawing bids from Netflix, Paramount Skydance, and Comcast in a rare open bidding war over a century-old Hollywood studio. On December 5, 2025, WBD's board took Netflix's $72 billion cash-and-stock offer for its studios and streaming arm (HBO, DC, and Warner Bros. film and TV operations), excluding CNN and the cable networks.

Updated 6 days ago

Force in Play

No public statement on the Dubai strike as of April 5

For decades, American tech companies built out massive data centers and office complexes across the Persian Gulf without ever treating them as potential military targets. On April 4, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) changed that calculation by striking Oracle's headquarters building in Dubai Internet City with a drone — part of a declared campaign against 18 US firms the IRGC accuses of supporting American and Israeli military operations.

Updated Apr 5

Money Moves

Key investor; Oracle holds 15% stake

For five years, the world's most popular social media app lived under a death sentence. TikTok, used by 170 million Americans, faced repeated ban threats from two administrations convinced its Chinese ownership posed an unacceptable national security risk. On January 23, 2026, that uncertainty ended: TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC became operational, transferring 80.1% ownership to American and allied investors while ByteDance retained a non-controlling 19.9% stake.

Updated Jan 25