Larry Ellison's $45M Dark-Money Bet on Trump Paid Off in Oracle Contracts and Media Dominance

Larry Ellison quietly poured roughly $45 million into a political nonprofit backing Donald Trump's 2024 campaign — a contribution that never required public disclosure and hadn't been reported before. That donation, one of the largest single injections of capital in the entire cycle, came after Ellison had pushed hard for Sen. Tim Scott to be Trump's running mate, even suggesting his financial support was contingent on that choice. When Trump picked JD Vance instead, Ellison recalibrated within weeks and cut the massive check.

The payoff has been substantial. The day after Trump's second inauguration, Ellison was in the White House's Roosevelt Room for the unveiling of Stargate — a $500 billion AI data-center initiative built on Oracle's cloud infrastructure. Trump personally intervened to get Ellison past Secret Service after the billionaire arrived without a government-issued ID, reportedly telling guards 'everyone knows who Larry is.' Oracle also became part of the investor group that took control of TikTok's U.S. operations in a government-brokered deal. Trump's own investment accounts were actively trading Oracle shares in early 2025, including a sale and purchase each worth at least $1 million.

The Ellison family's gains extend well beyond Oracle. David Ellison, Larry's son, has been assembling a media empire with notable political tailwinds. His company Paramount Skydance settled a Trump lawsuit over CBS News's editing of a Kamala Harris interview for $16 million, and shortly after, the Justice Department greenlit his $81 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery — closing an antitrust investigation despite internal staff concerns. David had also called a Paramount board director to vent about the slow settlement pace, a conversation that prompted the director to notify the company's legal counsel, though David's camp insists there was no intent to intervene or collude.

The Warner deal was especially politically charged. Larry Ellison personally called Trump to pitch the idea that a Paramount takeover of Warner would allow an overhaul of CNN — a network both men view as biased against the administration. After Netflix dropped out of a competing bid, Paramount secured the deal and DOJ blessed it. David Ellison has since installed Bari Weiss, co-founder of The Free Press, atop CBS News, where she has overhauled staffing and programming. A combined Paramount-Warner entity would also bring CNN under the Ellison umbrella.

The elder Ellison's path into Trump's inner circle was paved years earlier through Oracle's former co-CEO Safra Catz, who served on Trump's 2016 transition team. Ellison has since relocated his primary residence to a $173 million oceanfront estate in Manalapan, Florida — about 20 minutes from Mar-a-Lago — and regularly communicates with Trump by phone. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff reportedly helped deepen the bond, and shared ideological sympathies over Israel and skepticism of mainstream media have cemented it further.