Little Larry's big lie
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David Ellison cannot be trusted.
This gilded specimen of self-delusion, preening arrogance, screeching victimization and absurdist contradictions appeared in The New York Times for the purposes of convincing someone, somewhere, that the real-life version of Jack Brown, the main character in the Richard Pryer-Jackie Gleason movie “The Toy,” is not going to take it anymore.
The final product is no doubt the sum of a tremendous team effort, but in the end, it came to naught because all of the king’s men couldn’t put the reputation of the soft-handed boy billionaire back together again
Gaggles of lawyers, incompetent public relations executives and Larry’s men passed around the draft filled with Little Larry’s lamentations, and made them ready for publication in The New York Times. It offers a rare glimpse into the mind of the boy billionaire baked by nepotism, swaddled in softness and estranged from reality.
The one person you haven’t heard from is me.
There is a reason for that. I believe that anyone who oversees a news organization — I am chief executive of Paramount, which owns CBS — shouldn’t put a finger on the scale, especially on matters involving his own company. So, when California’s attorney general, 11 other state attorneys general and, a day later, the Writers Guild of America sued to stop the deal, I stayed quiet. I quickly learned such restraint has costs. While I was silent, others were happy to write my story for me. No more.
Before reading another word it makes sense to reference this paragraph about Larry Ellison, which appeared in The New York Times just three days ago:
But his big bet on A.I. was built on an astronomical amount of debt in every imaginable form — bonds, letters of credit, asset-backed securities — available in seemingly unlimited quantities, because the more you spent building A.I. infrastructure, the more you would earn, or so the logic went. Computer theorists called it the scaling hypothesis. It held that advancements in A.I. were directly tied to the generation of unprecedented amounts of computing power to process unprecedented volumes of data. Reaching the holy grail of artificial general intelligence, or A.G.I., when computers match or surpass human thinking at any task, was going to require bigger data centers and a lot more of them. It all came down to capital expenditures — capex, in the lingo of the Valley. Whoever controlled the most computing power would control the A.I. economy.
Long story short. The question hanging in the air is whether the 2027 spelling of ORACLE is going to be ENRON.
There are several absurdist claims throughout the cry of David Ellison with each exceeding the other in the zero gravity world of petulant billionaires, where there may never be an exception to the proposition that the wealthier the gentleman the more forgetful they appear to be.
Here is one:
I believe that anyone who oversees a news organization — I am chief executive of Paramount, which owns CBS — shouldn’t put a finger on the scale, especially on matters involving his own company.
Yes, indeed.
Little Larry has been a great tribune of propriety in these matters.
For the record, here are the contours of his corrupt deal:
The proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger features a total foreign ownership stake of 49.5%. Approximately 38.5% of the combined company's equity would be funded by a trio of Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds: with the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund holding a 15.1% equity stake, Abu Dhabi-based funds/L’imad Holding with a 12.8% equity stake and Qatar Investment Authority with a 10.6% equity stake.
Plus, Larry Ellison provided an irrevocable $40.4 billion personal equity and financing guarantee.
Let’s put it another way. Little Larry is in business with his father, a MAGA super donor, and also the Saudis, whom Trump has decided should have a nuclear weapon — after they gave Jared $2 billion in cash for his investment fund that appears to be the down payment for Ivanka’s island off the Albanian coast.
Meanwhile, another Ellison deal partner, Qatar, the generous sheiks who gave Trump a gold gilded 747 unfit for presidential travel, while also hosting Hamas, are also part of the deal. So, don’t you ever forget that David Ellison pulled himself up by his boot straps when the going got tough as a young stunt pilot, and he’s ready to do it again — alone if necessary, at least according to the NYT version of his Horatio Alger story.
My friends, the Ellison family has made their move. In this regard, they are not unlike the predatory Trump family — a scumbag pack without equal across the 250 years of American history that stand between today and tomorrow in an hour of growing crisis, brought to you by men like David Ellison, his father Larry, and Donald Trump.
Donald has purchased his Persian quagmire with his idiocies, while the Ellisons have found their quagmire through greed.
The saddest part of David’s cry is when he compares himself to Ted Turner and Edward R Murrow.
Here is the offending passage:
Great news organizations like CNN and CBS News are here to tell it straight down the middle. That requires newsrooms that reflect the whole world, not one side of it. And it requires independence. Our journalists will continue to answer to the facts and to all the people they serve — not to any party or cause. These were founding principles for both CNN and CBS News, for legends like Ted Turner and Edward R. Murrow, and it is exactly that kind of independence that has always fueled the greatness of “60 Minutes.”
Truly, I don’t know what to say beyond it triggered memories of Lloyd Bentsen turning towards a hapless Dan Quayle, and slaughtering him on national television:
Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy.
I never knew Edward R. Murrow or Ted Turner, but I have written and spoken about them. David Ellison is no Murrow, and no Ted Turner.
By the way, here are what some journalists and media executives have said happened to the ethics of their craft when David Ellison and Bari Weiss brought their show to the Tiffany network:
She [Bari Weiss] was brought in to kill it [“60 Minutes”], and she’s been doing exactly that.
Scott Pelley, former “60 Minutes” correspondent
It’s utterly depressing. Somebody who has zero experience in television news or even hard news for that matter … but with a clearly defined political agenda. It’s hard to see this as anything more than an attempt to bend the knee completely.
CBS news executive
Ellison installed a committed partisan w ZERO experience at CBS News. Results? Abysmal. Then she eviscerates its flagship program. He STILL backs her to run CNN... And he expects acceptance as 'trusted steward?'
Bill Carter, The New York Times media reporter and author
I will not linger on the internal mechanics of the dust-up at CBS that led to our CECOT story being pulled, but we have to be honest about what it represents.
It wasn’t an isolated editorial argument. In my view, it was the result of a more aggressive contagion: the spread of corporate meddling and editorial fear. It’s hard to watch.
Sharyn Alfonsi, former “60 Minutes” correspondent
The entirety of David Ellison’s merger is a corrupt transaction. It was made dirty in the original payment of tribute to Trump in the settlement of a spectacularly frivolous law suit with Donald Trump by Shari Redstone. It was as close to an open air bribe as a person can get this side of Saudi Arabia.
All of it is a disgrace. The reality of this moment is that the Ellisons are in trouble.
All of the kings horses and highly paid advisors have decided that David — if we get to know him a bit better — is a sympathetic and trusted figure.
He’s strong.
He’s defiant.
They have decided to tell David that he can talk himself out of his hole.
Here’s the deal.
He’s not to be trusted.
His agenda is not yours. He cares little for his country, your future, and none for your kids.
He is the son of an amoral predator who is at the end of his rope.
Don’t believe a word this man says.
Only a fool would.
Listen to Donald. He’s telling the truth about David Ellison, and so is Pete Hegseth:
The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.
Pete Hegseth, “Secretary of War”
I think CNN should be sold because the people that are running CNN right now are either corrupt or incompetent.
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Has anyone ever told you that you’re an amazing writer?
All of these oligarchs are scum of the earth.