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Posted by JumpCrisscross 8 hours ago

The worst acquisition in history, again(www.profgmedia.com)
102 points | 71 commentspage 2
jmyeet 7 hours ago||
Control of the media has become more important than the direct financial results of that acquisition. We are at a precarious point in history and it's becoming increasingly necessary to manufacture consent to maintain the American imperial project.

Don't think of this in terms on a financial return on investment. A half dozen people control almost all American media because the fear is that without the manufactured consent, the entire system is going to collapse. Historically, that's tended to result in heads on spikes or being hunt from the city walls.

Perhaps it's nihilistic of me but I thought that after the 2024 election, we're now beyond the point where any of this is going to get better through electoral politics. Any democracy now is performative. Both sides are bought and paid for. There is no significant, organized resistance to any of this. Material conditions will continue to get worse.

Think about it: it doesn't matter if you, as Larry Ellison or Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk, have $200 billion or $300 billion or $400 billion. Like that has no impact on your life. There is nothing you can possibly buy that requires more wealth. The goal now is to preserve the system at any cost.

Helloworldboy 7 hours ago||
[dead]
sizhxjs 8 hours ago||
[flagged]
bdangubic 8 hours ago||
amazing that people still write articles like this and get away with it… everyone knows why this purchase was made and this mate is discussing things even my 12-year old would not bring up. X purchase maybe was understandable discussion but in 2026 writing article like this is borderline “criminal”
rgbrgb 8 hours ago||
> everyone knows why this purchase was made

you should say what you're talking about because I for one have no idea.

DaveFr 7 hours ago|||
The idea is that this is a political deal, not a business deal - by buying WBD, the Ellisons add CNN to a portfolio that already includes CBS and TikTok, and shaping coverage matters more to them than the stock price.
CodesInChaos 7 hours ago||
If that's the case, shouldn't they have been able to work out a much cheaper deal with Netflix where they get CNN and Netflix everything else?
jandrese 5 hours ago|||
Probably hard to cut a deal like this with someone you are actively engaged in a hostile bidding war with.
jasonfarnon 5 hours ago|||
I think this was actually on the table and rejected. Which is why the "control the narrative" argument is fishy, or at least missing something. And now having just defended Oracle I have to go take a shower.
afavour 7 hours ago||||
I assume OP is talking about an ideological motive to take over the media industry and pivot it in a rightward direction. That’s certainly what happened with CBS News, I think it’s fair to speculate about CNN too.

No idea why OP alluded to it rather than just said it though.

warkdarrior 7 hours ago|||
Even if that is indeed the motive, the article is useful in showing how from a financial perspective this is bad deal for Paramount.
afavour 7 hours ago||
Absolutely. But it’s still relevant because depending on your goal (and your resources) a bad deal that burns cash might still be a positive outcome.

Not dissimilar from Musk buying Twitter, objectively he overpaid by a ton for a business that wasn’t thriving. But I think time has shown that his purchase has paid political and ideological dividends. Which might be worth the money to him.

bdangubic 7 hours ago|||
didn’t think I had to actually explain it :)
cyanydeez 7 hours ago||||
Its a cynical media control strategy to prevent taxes on the rich.
ViktorRay 7 hours ago||
This doesn’t make sense. Surely paying taxes would be cheaper than buying Warner Bros?
cyanydeez 7 hours ago||
That's what a poor person would say. Fox news managed to get Donald Trump elected, whose net worth has gone up by billions.

Also, it's not real money, it's debt equity. Equity transfers are just rich people toys. They move the actual cost into the entity they purchase, and if it fails, whatever, it didn't cost them anything.

ajb 7 hours ago|||
He's probably talking about this: https://www.972mag.com/ellisons-paramount-tiktok-israel-medi...
fud101 2 hours ago||
Indeed. I have tried to say it more bluntly, Galloway is pro-Israel and vehemently so.
samrus 7 hours ago||
Elaborate please. This is the place for insiders to inform others
bdangubic 7 hours ago|||
After this merger, how many MSM outlets (including social media too) will not be in control by right wing billionaire nutcases? It is like when people for months discussed how much value X lost after Musk bought it (it was the greatest single investment made by any human ever)
popalchemist 7 hours ago|||
It was an elaborate scam between Trump and his billionaire buddy (and contributor) Ellison to make money in various ways (both the acquisition as well as driving down shares in Netflix so Trump could buy the dip - as was reported earlier in the week) as well as to MAGA-ify the entertainment industry further.

It's all a grift.

james2doyle 7 hours ago|
This article sure uses a lot of em dashes. I see 9 in the article body.