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Larry Ellison provides personal guarantee for Paramount takeover of Warner Bros
- philipwhiuk 10mo agoRemember the lawnmower and the acronym.
- toomanyrichies 10mo agoFor those who don't get the references: "Lawnmower" refers to this. [1] And I'm guessing "acronym" refers to the joke that "Oracle" is an acronym for "One Rich Asshole Called Larry Ellison". 1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15886728 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15886728
- pityJuke 10mo agoSome context from Matt Levine [0] as to what was different prior to this change. (TL;DR, but please correct me if I'm wrong: it was previously backstopped by Ellison's revocable trust. Ellison could theoretically clear out the revocable trust at any time, and leave WBD high and dry. Now that it is backstopped by Ellison himself, there is no such worry.) [0]: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/newsletters/2025-12-17/warner-doesn-t-trust-paramount https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/newsletters/2025-12-17/war...
- lesuorac 10mo ago> In an effort to address these concerns, Paramount said on Monday morning that Larry Ellison, the co-founder of tech giant Oracle, had agreed to personally backstop $40.4bn in equity financing for the proposed deal. The deal is for $108.4bn though. IIUC, Ellison's trust is on the hook for 40.7bn so where's the missing 0.3bn? Levine didn't really talk much about how the remainder is secured so there could be issues there as well.
- andsoitis 10mo agoDaddy Ellison helps nepo baby
- platevoltage 10mo agoI can't wait for both the Ferengi and the Cardassians to take over The Federation in the next Star Trek series.
- ChrisArchitect 10mo agoRelated Paramount release: Paramount amends its $30 per share all-cash offer for warner bros. Discovery https://ir.paramount.com/news-releases/news-release-details/paramount-amends-its-superior-30-share-all-cash-offer-warner/ https://ir.paramount.com/news-releases/news-release-details/...
- deleted 10mo ago[deleted]
- mullingitover 10mo agoNetflix diabolically threw in a $5.8 billion reverse termination fee for their offer, which I believe is rich enough that even if their deal doesn't go through, Warner Bros has enough money to give Ellison the bird and still keep their investors happy.
- bgwalter 10mo agoHe already uses $82 billion in stock as collateral for his borrowing: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/18/larry-ellison-365-billion-fortune-wealth-management.html https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/18/larry-ellison-365-billion-fo... This is another $40 billion guarantee. Imagine he gets a margin call if ORCL drops another 30%.
- bigbuppo 10mo agoGood thing that AI is definitely not a bubble, and if it was, that Oracle was smart enough to not be involved in any of that mess.
- robocat 10mo agoThe negative publicity obviously motivated him. Who does he care about impressing these days?
- Canada 10mo agoHe's buying as much media as possible to propagandize Americans on behalf of Israel. It's why he has TikTok and why he's installed Bari Weiss at CBS.
- lotsoweiners 10mo agoJust curious. How does that benefit someone like Ellison?
- djohnston 10mo agoHe's a staunch Zionist
- bfkwlfkjf 10mo agoIt benefits him because that's the thing he wants. I find it hilarious that hn is so money focused that a lot of people here will straight up deny that people some times do things for reasons other than money. But it's true, money is just an end.
- bfkwlfkjf 10mo agoLol edit I meant "money is just a means, not the end".
- bfkwlfkjf 10mo agoI find it encouraging that people are starting more and more to openly criticise Israel without fear of being called aNtIsEmItIc. They've used it so much it lost its effectiveness.
- Canada 10mo ago
- djohnston 10mo agoAll the media ownership in the world won't put the genie back in the bottle larry - zionism is dying and Americans are sick of footing the bill to their own detriment.
- greatgib 10mo agoAsshole involved, not surprised...