Paramount CEO Secures UFC Rights for $77 Billion, Eyes Warner Bros. Discovery Acquisition

In August, the newly appointed chief executive officer of Paramount Pictures, the son of Oracle Corporation billionaire Larry Ellison, swiftly initiated an ambitious plan to transform the company's vast content library. Within hours of completing the merger between his production company and Paramount, the CEO announced that his company had secured the distribution rights for a new heist film starring Tim Chalamet and directed by James Mangold. Days later, another significant deal was finalized: securing the exclusive U.S. streaming and television broadcast rights for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) for seven years, starting next year, at a cost of 77 billion dollars.

This UFC deal was made possible by an earlier agreement with the creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, for a 1.5 billion dollar global streaming rights deal. This move demonstrated the CEO's willingness and ability to pay top dollar for high-quality content across various genres. Since the acquisition of Paramount by Skydance Media, the 42-year-old CEO has been rapidly transforming the historic studio into a more ambitious entity: a sprawling empire that combines sports, media, and news, aiming to merge Hollywood's creative prowess with Silicon Valley's technological advantages. His father, the world's second-richest person, provides the financial backing for these grand visions.

“Traditional media is like a boat that has rowed to the middle of a lake but is unsure how to reach the other side,” the CEO recently stated at a Paramount Pictures briefing. “We will eventually reach the other side of the lake.”

The CEO's boldest moves may still be ahead. The new Paramount CEO is reportedly preparing to make an offer to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. The company owns Warner Bros. Pictures, HBO, CNN, TNT, and Warner Bros. Games. Currently, due to declining television business, Warner Bros. Discovery is on the brink of being split up, but the CEO plans to expand against the trend, creating a media giant that combines Paramount's classic film library, including The Godfather and Star Trek, with Warner Bros.' own vast content collection.

Some observers believe that the CEO's media strategy hides even greater ambitions. In recent weeks, the CEO has appointed Kenneth Wines as the supervisory editor of CBS News. Wines is a supporter of Donald Trump and was previously the CEO of the conservative think tank Hudson Institute. Meanwhile, reports suggest that the CEO is in talks to acquire Free Press and plans to appoint its founder, Barry Weiss, to a leadership position at CBS News.

Media commentators such as Oliver Darcy speculate that the CEO may have an even grander goal: to create a news media empire that combines CBS and CNN's real-time television and text news services. This empire could potentially rival Rupert Murdoch's global empire in terms of scale and influence, becoming a major conservative media powerhouse.

However, Gabriel Kahn, a professor at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, disagrees with this view. He argues that the conservative media landscape is already “crowded.” Instead, he believes that the CEO's actions are aimed at currying favor with Trump to advance his own media ambitions.

“From the Paramount case, we have already seen that to get this administration to approve a deal, you have to ‘pay a price,’” Kahn said. “Now we are talking about a much larger deal, so the ‘price’ will also increase accordingly. If CNN is no longer a thorn in Trump's side, he will be allowed to integrate as much of the market share as possible.”

With a background in Silicon Valley, the CEO stands out in an industry dominated by executives who have risen through the ranks of Hollywood. He has spent several summers writing computer code for Oracle Corporation and has gained insights into the film industry from his father's close friend, Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Pixar. These technological perspectives are now shaping his vision for Paramount, aiming to transform it into a “technology-driven company” that combines Hollywood's “creative core” with Silicon Valley's “innovative spirit.”

Although it is not yet clear what form this “fusion of technology and Hollywood” will take, the CEO clearly has a risk-taking nature. At the age of 13, he learned to fly with his father, and by 16, he could pilot an Extra 300 aerobatic plane. This passion inspired the name of his production company, Skydance, which is derived from the aerobatic flying technique known as “sky dancing.”

Raised by his mother, Barbara Booth, the CEO developed a strong sense of professional ethics. He initially studied business at Pepperdine University before transferring to the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. In 2006, he dropped out of school to invest in a World War I pilot-themed film, Flyboys, which was a box office flop. However, the CEO did not give up. He partnered with Paramount and achieved his first professional success with the 2010 remake of True Grit, which received 10 Oscar nominations.

Since then, he has produced a string of box office hits, including World War Z, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, and Top Gun: Maverick. These successes have earned him a strong reputation among top filmmakers and talent agents.

“He is a true entrepreneur and manager who loves film and storytelling, and the industry needs such people more than ever,” said the CEO of Creative Artists Agency.