• Join Puck

    Directly Supporting Authors

    A new economic model in which writers are also partners in the business.

    Personalized Subscriptions

    Customize your settings to receive the newsletters you want from the authors you follow.

    Stay in the Know

    Connect directly with Puck talent through email and exclusive events.

  • What is puck? Newsletters Authors Podcasts Events Gift Puck Careers

The Ellison Way of Parenting

David Ellison’s latest schemes to wrest Warner Bros. from Netflix have proved insufficient after his previous negotiating tactics ran up the price. Meanwhile, he’s losing the respect of the WBD guys across the table. But will his dad come to the rescue with another, say, $10 billion to bail him out?

David Ellison
As another person on the WBD side of the equation put it, “Our guys are laughing at [David]. Like, if you want the company, then just go down to Florida and ask your father for more money.” Photo: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images
William D. Cohan
January 18, 2026

Join Puck to listen to this article

I’m beginning to think the only logical explanation for all the recent sturm und drang from Paramount Skydance is that Larry Ellison must have told his son David that he’s momentarily tapped out. Perhaps the world’s fifth-richest man, with a fortune currently estimated at around $245 billion, has had the hard conversation with his beloved progeny that the $40 billion in equity he has so far underwritten to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery is all he’s willing to do—for now, at least.