Billionaire Larry Ellison's support for Stargate, the groundbreaking $500 billion artificial intelligence infrastructure project touted by President Trump, is tied to the struggling Paramount Global and Skydance Media merger. It could help keep the wheels flowing, officials told the Post.
The Oracle founder took to the stage with President Trump at the White House on Tuesday to announce the Stargate deal. Elon Musk quickly went into the shadows, claiming that he “actually doesn't have any money” for X, and that it's “significantly below” to date. We secured $10 billion. ”
Mr. Ellison, whose net worth is currently valued at $205 billion by Forbes magazine, announced his support for Stargate after his son David's Skydance Media entered into a controversial $8 billion deal with Paramount. The company is likely to expect the merger agreement to be approved by regulators, the people said.
This comes despite President Trump's new Federal Communications Commission chairman, Brendan Carr, publicly stating that he has concerns about the merger, focusing on allegations of bias at Paramount-owned CBS in the 2024 presidential election. Zuda.
“I don't believe in coincidences anymore,” a former FCC commissioner told the Post on condition of anonymity.
Paramount is also reportedly considering settling a $10 billion lawsuit filed by President Trump against the company over allegations of bias ahead of the merger review.
A source close to Paramount said of Ellison's White House appearance, “Larry's move is very wise.'' “He has no problem signing with Paramount.”
Media investor Dafna Ziman's consortium, Project Rise Partners, is preparing to submit a higher bid to Paramount this week, she said in an interview with the Post.
But Paramount has a binding agreement with David Ellison's Skydance Media and could only exit if regulators halt the merger, the people said.
“If Mr. Trump advises Mr. Carr and the FCC to go along with the merger, I think they might go ahead with the merger because the public will follow his wishes,'' Ziemann said, adding, “Mr. Ellison is completely strategic. ” he added.
Ellison's Skydance company declined to comment. Mr. Ellison's Oracle spokeswoman and Mr. Trump's spokeswoman did not return calls.
Meanwhile, U.S. Representative John Moolener (R-Mich.), chairman of the House China Select Committee, said: Last week, he said the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) should also be reconsidered. The Skydance-Paramount merger is to see if China has too much influence on Paramount.
Earlier this month, US Department of Defense adds Tencent Go to the list of companies allegedly working for the Chinese military.
A Skydance spokesperson confirmed that if Paramount and Skydance were to merge, China-based Tencent would own less than 5% of the company.
In a Jan. 2 filing with the FCC, Skydance said Tencent would not retain an attributable interest in the CBS-licensed stations.
“Tencent and several other Skydance current investors, along with many other institutional and individual investors, will hold non-voting publicly traded shares in New Paramount;・He has no ability to influence the operations or management of Paramount.
“Tencent's completely passive and unattributed minority interests provide no basis for concerns of undue influence.” skydance said.
Now, Oracle, OpenAI, and SoftBank have announced a $500 billion AI project that includes the construction of large-scale data centers.
Oracle stock rose 7% on Tuesday on the news, then rose again 5% after hours after President Trump announced he was open to buying TikTok from Ellison or Elon Musk.
Ellison spoke at a press conference about the benefits of AI.
“Small pieces, [cancer] Tumors float in the blood. Therefore, early detection of cancer becomes possible. “If we can do that using AI, we can use blood tests and AI to look at blood tests to detect cancer early,” Ellison said.
“Once we understand the genetic sequence of that cancer tumor, we can vaccinate that person. That means we can design a vaccine that will vaccinate everyone against that cancer. The mRNA vaccine can also be made using AI in about 48 hours.
The Ellison family and Redbird Capital are acquiring Shari Redstone's National Amusements, which controls Paramount through super voting stock.
However, part of the deal also includes Paramount acquiring Skydance, which is owned by Tencent.
Skydance is offering Paramount's common stockholders $15 in cash for approximately half of their shares in the merger.
Paramount's stock is trading below $11, a sign that investors believe the company will be worth less after the merger.
