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Epistemic capture

The Ellison Gambit: Consolidating a Media Oligarchy

Active acquisition
Case Dossier EPI-MED-004
STATUS
Active acquisition
SEVERITY
Critical
DATE
2025-09-18
DOMAIN
Epistemic Capture
SUBDOMAIN
Ownership
CAPTURE VECTOR
Oligarchic consolidation
TAGS
media-ownership larry-ellison propaganda consolidation cbs cnn tiktok ideological-realignment
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Oracle founder Larry Ellison, a key Trump ally, is executing a rapid consolidation of major media assets—including CBS, Paramount, and potentially CNN/HBO and TikTok—to construct a vertically integrated, regime-aligned media empire.

Summary

In the fall of 2025, Larry Ellison (founder of Oracle and a close ally of President Trump) launched a multi-front campaign to acquire and ideologically realign America’s most significant media properties. Following the acquisition of Paramount Global (now Paramount Skydance) by his son David Ellison, the family is reportedly preparing an $80 billion all-cash bid for Warner Bros. Discovery (owner of CNN and HBO) and orchestrating a deal to take a major stake in TikTok. This would place a single, regime-aligned family in control of a dominant share of U.S. news, entertainment, and social media infrastructure.

Capture Mechanism: Structural Realignment

This strategy moves beyond the censorship of individual voices (like Colbert or Kimmel) to the structural capture of the institutions themselves.

  • Ideological Repurposing: The Ellisons are not merely buying assets; they are actively reshaping them. They are negotiating to acquire The Free Press and install its co-founder, Bari Weiss, in a senior role at CBS News. Simultaneously, they hired Kenneth Weinstein, former CEO of the conservative Hudson Institute, as the CBS ombudsman. These moves signal a deliberate shift of the “Tiffany Network” toward a right-wing, anti-“woke” editorial stance.
  • The TikTok Pivot: The plan involves a consortium including Oracle and a16z (whose co-founder Marc Andreessen is close to the administration) taking an 80% stake in TikTok. This transforms the platform from a “national security threat” into a regime-friendly asset.
  • Regulatory Impunity: While a merger of CBS and CNN would typically face antitrust scrutiny, the Trump administration’s regulators are expected to wave it through, rewarding an ally with market dominance in exchange for narrative control.

Analysis

The “Ellison Gambit” represents the privatization of state propaganda. By consolidating independent news organizations (CBS, CNN) under the control of a loyalist oligarch, the regime avoids the legal hurdles of direct state censorship while achieving the same result: a homogenized media landscape that amplifies the leader’s worldview. It creates a “Fox News effect” across the entire spectrum of legacy media.