Larry Ellison, the Oracle billionaire, becomes custodian of the TikTok algorithm in the US

Ellison, who is 81 years old and lives on the Hawaiian island of Lanai – of which he bought almost all of it in 2012 for $300 million – built his empire on databases for the CIA and is now one of the richest people in the world, with a fortune of $227.7 billion, according to Forbes.

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The TikTok algorithm

In the last few hours, TikTok closed a $14 billion deal to establish a US subsidiary of the platform and avoid a ban in the US.

With the agreement, the technology giant Oracle, the giant chaired by Ellison, the private equity firm Silver Lake and the Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX will collectively own 45% of the US subsidiary, which will be called ‘TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC’.

The joint venture will be responsible for US data protection, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurance.

Meanwhile, the joint venture will license the algorithm from the Chinese company ByteDance and retrain it with data from American users to ensure that the content seen by users in this country is free of external manipulation, the company has stated.

Oracle will be the security partner responsible for auditing and validating compliance with agreed national security terms.

Ellison stepped down as CEO of Oracle in 2014 after 37 years at the company’s helm, and is now president and chief technology officer of the company, of which he owns approximately 40%.

Musk, Trump and Netanyahu, among his friends

The mogul, who has been through six marriages, also served on Tesla’s board of directors between 2018 and 2022. The electric vehicle company’s CEO, Elon Musk, described Ellison as “one of the smartest people.”

In addition, Musk considers the magnate – who lent him 1 billion to buy Twitter – as “his mentor,” according to a biography of Musk written by Walter Isaacson.

US President Donald Trump has also publicly praised Ellison: “He is an extraordinary man and an incredible businessman,” the Republican said during a press conference a day after his inauguration.

The two have met in the last year both at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago complex in Florida and in the Oval Office of the White House.

Ellison is also close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and in 2017 he made a $16.6 million donation to the nonprofit Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF), the largest donation the organization had ever received.

The media empire

Ellison began in the world of media supporting Annapurna Pictures and Skydance Productions, companies founded by his children Megan and David Ellison.

Last year, Skydance Media merged with Paramount in a deal valued at nearly $28 billion, creating a gigantic conglomerate with almost unmatched reach.

The specialized media point out that although David runs Paramount, it is the father who really holds the reins of the company, since Ellison owns almost 50% of the media giant Paramount Skydance,

That means the billionaire owns a majority stake in a television network (CBS), the streaming platform (Paramount+), multiple movie studios, CBS News and pay television channels such as Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and Showtime.

Now, Paramount is trying to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, which would give the family ownership of another major movie studio, another major streaming service (HBO Max), CNN and more.