The Global Story Trump’s ‘CEO of everything’
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Oct 8, 2025 Jake Lahat, a senior writer at Wired, dives into Larry Ellison's burgeoning dominance over AI and media. He reveals how Ellison's Oracle acts as the backbone of the internet, likening it to digital plumbing essential for AI training. The conversation explores Ellison's strategic acquisition of TikTok amid political tensions and his family's ambitious moves into legacy media, including a significant deal for Paramount. Lahat warns that the Ellison dynasty could shape U.S. attention and data akin to historical industrial giants.
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Owning AI Compute Is Strategic Power
- AI's growth makes massive compute and data centers extremely valuable and scarce.
- Owning that infrastructure makes Oracle an 'AI landlord' who profits regardless of which AI firms succeed.
Landlord Strategy Secures Upside In AI
- Ellison positions Oracle as platform landlord rather than model developer to capture upside across the AI boom.
- This approach yields revenue whether or not any single AI company achieves AGI.
TikTok Became A Political Flashpoint
- Trump's 2020 order to force ByteDance to divest TikTok set off years of negotiation and deadline extensions.
- Trump later publicly urged Larry Ellison to buy TikTok, making Ellison the frontrunner for a US-controlled version.
