Why Is There No Unified Project Behind Larry Ellison's Media Purchases?

A grand plan would be easier to understand. People like the Murdochs buy with the intent to control vast media empires, and Elon Musk bought Twitter in part to use it politically. Larry is close to Elon, and Oracle holds a 15% stake in TikTok, so the purchases can look like one project. The reporting found interests and politics, and the guest says he does not see a project spanning administrations or generations.

Recode Media · Larry Ellison’s Media Ambitions & Kevin Roose on AI’s Biggest Gamble · at 5:45 · October 7th, 2026 ·Transcript

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Kevin Roose

On this episode

How Does Peter Kafka Describe the Media Empire Larry Ellison Bought for David Ellison? at 1:46 Transcript
Why Is There No Unified Project Behind Larry Ellison's Media Purchases? at 5:45 Transcript
Why Can David Ellison Pursue a Media Rollup When the Money Is Larry Ellison's? at 10:00 Transcript
Why Does Oracle Want to Host the TikTok Algorithm? at 11:39 Transcript
Why Is a Direct Pro-israel Tilt of TikTok Hard to Pin on Oracle's 15% Stake? at 15:36 Transcript
Why Is Larry Ellison Eighth After Briefly Being the Richest Man in the World? at 17:29 Transcript
Why Were Believers in a Human-level System Treated as Fringe Weirdos in San Francisco? at 24:02 Transcript
Why Is Kevin Launching Machine Gods After Leaving the New York Times? at 53:41 Transcript
Why Does a Ten Percent Chance of Catastrophe Make Kevin an Optimist in San Francisco? at 59:16 Transcript