Exclusive / Elon Musk makes $1 billion investment in Ellison’s Skydance

Elon Musk has invested roughly $1 billion in Skydance, according to people familiar with the matter, providing a much needed financial injection as the company looks to cut costs and bolster its stock price.

The deal came together at roughly the same time as equity investments from Skydance’s other investors, including board member Laurene Powell Jobs, the people said. Semafor reported in September that Paramount was considering seeking an equity injection from Musk.

Musk has publicly praised the Ellisons and Skydance, prompting speculation of a more expansive partnership between Musk’s lower-earth-orbit satellite network, Starlink, and Skydance.

“He’s gonna have to re-engineer all of those channels, and figure out how they morph into streams themselves rather than just traditional linear,” billionaire cable executive John Malone said Tuesday. “I think there’s a deal coming there,” Malone also said at his Paley Center appearance.

“Who helped Elon finance Twitter when he bought it? Larry Ellison,” Malone said. “How did Larry Ellison come up with some of the money to put into the creation of Skydance? Tesla stock. And I would not doubt for a minute that before very long you’re going to see an announcement.”

A deal, in fact, had already come. Ellison, who poached Mattel’s Ynon Kreiz to serve as co-CEO, could use Musk’s capital to bolster the company’s cost-cutting and technological efforts.

“We are building a true product and tech team,” Ellison said in a CNBC interview earlier this month. “We are a big believer that artificial intelligence is a tool for artists, not the other way around.”

Musk and Paramount did not immediately respond to requests for comment.