Variety reports a new Hollywood power structure seems to be taking form as an alliance of Silicon Valley wealth and Global Sovereign capital. David Ellison, head of Paramount Skydance, and his family are Tech tycoons who have just landed a huge $24 billion commitment from three Middle East wealth funds.
The wealth funds have been identified as Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund or PIF, which agreed to pay $10 billion, as well as both Qatar and Abu Dhabi adding an additional $7 billion from their respective state-controlled funds. This is a huge shift in Hollywood leadership character as the previous guard, the Redstones and the Warners, built the media landscape and pioneered it into the current age. The new guard, the Ellison and Gulf Oil investors, have little to no experience in media. The Ellisons will look to leverage their tech dynasty in the age of streaming, and Middle Eastern Investors are looking to bring the unlimited cash flow studios used to rely on.
Even as the Middle-Eastern stakeholders have agreed to waive any voting rights due to national security and foreign investment, they are still looking to do more than diversify their portfolio. Positioning themselves as the global cultural patrons will be quite prestigious, and studios would have a hard time bringing themselves to create content that would go against the values of a big-time investor, even if they have no control.
These foreign commitments have not gone undetected by opponents within the American legislature. Sen. Cory Booker has not only spoken out in defiance of the investment giving foreign influencers “soft power,” but he has also been leading a push to have the FCC and DOJ take a closer look at the deal. He is worried about news outlets like CNN and CBS ultimately having to answer to an entity outside of the United States.