David Ellison: Hollywood's new milk boy mogul

The era of the big Hollywood bosses seemed long over. Founding figures like Louis B. Mayer and Jack Warner disappeared with the golden age of film studios. But as of this week, the type of powerful Hollywood mogul is back.

After much wrangling with US states over labor and creative concessions, the $111 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros. Disney by Paramount Skydance was finally approved on Monday. The result is the largest news and entertainment conglomerate in history. At the helm is a man whose influence over film and TV would make Mayer and Warner green with envy: 43-year-old David Ellison.

But despite his power, Ellison lacks the stature of the old founding generation. In the photos that appeared on Tuesday in media outlets such as Forbes and the New York Times, he looks more like a milk boy. The soft contours of his face and the turtleneck sweater hardly make him seem like a warrior who has built an empire with entrepreneurial spirit and assertiveness.

Rather, you see what he is above all: a legacy. Comedian John Oliver put it best: "Having access to rich parents shouldn't be the system for getting access to medical care in the US. However, it is the system for becoming the head of a media empire."

The real entrepreneurial personality of the family is not David, but his father Larry Ellison. The founder of software giant Oracle is worth over $200 billion and is the sixth richest person in the world. Back in 1994, when Oracle went public, he bequeathed 90,000 shares each to his children. They would each be worth $4 billion today. Where exactly the money is hidden remains unclear. David and his sister Megan are involved in various of their father's ventures.

Through these investments, David became a dealmaker in the entertainment industry. After completing his studies, he initially tried unsuccessfully as an actor, later with more skill as a producer of films such as “Terminator”, “Top Gun” and the Oscar candidate “True Grit”. But as manager of his company Skydance, he was laughed at for a long time in Hollywood. He was considered “dumb money,” a rich film fan who could easily get money out of his pocket.

Nevertheless, he managed to shape Skydance into a respectable, independent studio over the years. However, Warner Bros Disney's mega takeover and the bidding war with Netflix seemed clearly financed and orchestrated by his father. And according to a New York Times report last week, it will be Larry, not David, who ultimately calls the shots at Paramount. A company owned by the family holds 77 percent of the voting shares - Larry is behind this company.

How much Trump pal Larry Ellison will intervene in decisions surrounding the future of the entertainment and news industry is speculation at this point. Maybe he'll let his son do it, maybe not. Maybe he only intervenes in important decisions. The fact is, the milk-bearded new super-mogul David is anything but a sovereign ruler of his empire.