There is a possibility that Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, will extend his influence beyond the aerospace, artificial intelligence (AI), and automotive industries to the film and broadcasting sectors. On the 23rd, the U.S. media outlet Semaphore reported that executives at Paramount Skydance (hereinafter Paramount) discussed asking Musk to join their group of equity investors. Musk is known to be close to Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle and father of Paramount CEO David Ellison. Larry Ellison invested $1 billion (approximately 1.3667 trillion won) when Musk took Twitter (now X) private in 2022, and he also has a connection to Musk, having served as a director of Tesla from 2018 to 2022. According to entertainment media outlets such as Deadline and Variety, Paramount is in need of a massive sum to finalize its mega-merger and acquisition (M&A) with Warner Bros. Discovery. The company has secured a commitment of $24 billion in investment from three sovereign wealth funds led by Saudi Arabia—specifically Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates—and upon completion, these funds will hold a 38.5% stake in the merged entity.
Larry Ellison has reportedly pledged to personally guarantee an investment of $40 billion and is planning to contact various wealthy individuals to cover the remaining amount. To date, the names of the other billionaires besides Musk have not been disclosed. Semaphore pointed out that it could be uncomfortable for Musk to become an investor in the merged entity, given that Paramount will come to own both CNN and CBS News through this merger. Musk served as the head of the Department of Governmental Effectiveness (DOGE) during Donald Trump’s second term and has provided substantial financial support to Republican candidates during every election season. In contrast, CNN is considered a progressive media outlet that has levelled sharp criticism against both President Trump and Musk. Semaphore, which reported on this, is a new media outlet co-founded by Justin Smith, former CEO of Bloomberg Media, and Ben Smith, a New York Times columnist.