Billionaire Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle, one of the most implacable figures in Silicon Valley and the new ‘czar’ of the media in the United States, managed to become the guardian of the algorithm of the renewed TikTok United States.
Ellison, who is 81 years old and lives on the Hawaiian island of Lanai – of which he bought almost all of it in 2012 for $300 million – built his empire on databases for the CIA and is now one of the richest people in the world, with a fortune of $227.7 billion, according to Forbes.
The TikTok algorithm
In the last hours, TikTok closed a $14 billion deal to establish a US subsidiary of the platform and avoid a US ban.
With the agreement, the technology giant Oracle chaired by Ellison, the private equity firm Silver Lake and the Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX will collectively own 45% of the US subsidiarywhich will be called ‘TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC’.
The joint venture will US Data Protection Officeralgorithm security, content moderation and software assurance.
Meanwhile, the joint venture will license the algorithm from the Chinese company ByteDance and will retrain with data from US users to ensure that the content seen by users in this country is free of external manipulation, the company has stated.
It will be Oracle the security partner responsible for auditing and validating compliance with agreed national security terms.
Ellison stepped down as CEO of Oracle in 2014, after 37 years at the company’s helm, and is now the president and chief technology officer of the companyof which it owns approximately 40%.
Musk, Trump and Netanyahu, among his friends
The tycoon, who has gone through six marriages, also He was part of the board of directors of Tesla between 2018 and 2022. The electric vehicle company’s CEO, Elon Musk, described Ellison as “one of the smartest people.”
In addition, Musk considers the tycoon – who lent 1,000 million to buy Twitter– as “his mentor,” according to a biography of Musk written by Walter Isaacson.
The president of the USA, Donald Trump has also publicly praised Ellison: “He is an extraordinary man and an incredible businessman,” the Republican said during a press conference a day after his inauguration.
Both have met in the last year both at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago complex in Florida and in the Oval Office of the White House.
Ellison is also close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuand in 2017 made a donation of $16.6 million to the non-profit organization Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF), the largest donation the organization had received until then.
The media empire
Ellison started in the world of media supporting Annapurna Pictures and Skydance Productions, companies founded by his children Megan and David Ellison.
Last year, Skydance Media merged with Paramountin an operation valued at almost $28 billion, which created a gigantic conglomerate with an almost unmatched reach.
The specialized media point out that although David directs Paramount, It is the father who really holds the reins of the company, as Ellison owns almost 50% of the media giant Paramount Skydance,
That means the billionaire owns a majority stake on a television network (CBS), the streaming platform (Paramount+), multiple movie studios, CBS News and pay television channels such as Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and Showtime.
Now, Paramount is trying to acquire Warner Bros. Discoverywhich would give the family ownership of another major movie studio, another major streaming service (HBO Max), CNN and more.
