Elon Musk reportedly invests $1B in Skydance

Elon Musk has put roughly $1 billion into newly formed media company Skydance, according to a new report from Semafor. The investment lands just weeks after Paramount closed its $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery to form the combined company.

Skydance’s co-CEOs, David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz, are now merging two major streaming platforms — Paramount+ and HBO Max — along with a stable of cable networks that includes CBS, CNN, MTV, TBS, Comedy Central and Food Network, all under one corporate roof. Musk’s stake landed around the same period as equity injections from other Skydance backers — including board member Laurene Powell Jobs — Semafor reports; the fresh capital gives the company a cushion as it works to cut costs and support its stock price. Skydance has already pledged to cut $6 billion in costs over the next three years.

Musk has often praised the Ellisons and keeps a close relationship with Larry Ellison, the Oracle co-founder he named to Tesla’s board in 2018. Ellison put $1 billion toward Musk’s 2022 purchase of Twitter, and separately invested in Tesla back in 2018.

Why it matters

A billionaire tech founder quietly bankrolling a freshly merged media conglomerate — one leaning in part on Musk’s own Oracle-linked network for capital — underscores how blurred the line between Silicon Valley money and legacy Hollywood ownership is becoming as these companies race to cut costs and prove the mega-merger was worth it.