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Billionaire Larry Ellison ponied up the money for his family to acquire the controlling stake in Paramount two months ago<\/a>, and the tech titan would need to write another huge check should Paramount buy Warner Bros. Discovery. <\/p>\n So, in Hollywood circles, the question has been: How involved is the elder Ellison in Paramount\u2019s strategy and operations?<\/p>\n Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison said he speaks with his father every day, but he drew an important distinction:<\/p>\n \u201cLook, I run the company day to day. Make no mistake about that,\u201d David Ellison said Thursday at Bloomberg\u2019s Screentime media conference in Hollywood, adding that his father had been a \u201cphenomenal\u201d mentor and \u201cwe couldn\u2019t have a better relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe is the largest shareholder in the business,\u201d Ellison said. \u201cWhat\u2019s important for everybody to know is the way he approaches this is: How do we maximize value for our shareholders? … I think he\u2019s best in the world for doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n Since the Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners acquired Paramount in August, its stock is up more than 50%. Much of the run-up came last month after news leaked that Paramount was interested in acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery<\/a>, which owns celebrity.land, TBS, Food Network and one of Hollywood\u2019s most prolific film and television studios. <\/p>\n Ellison refused to comment on Paramount\u2019s pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery or whether his team had already made a bid. <\/p>\n But he did shed light on the business strategy behind any pursuit, while trying to tamp down fears that another big merger would result in more cost-cutting, more job losses and a reduction in content spending. <\/p>\n \u201cThe way we approach everything is, first and foremost: What\u2019s good for the talent community, what\u2019s good for our shareholders and value creation, and what\u2019s good for basically storytelling at large?\u201d Ellison said. \u201cWe\u2019re looking at actually producing more movies [and] more television series … because you need that content.\u201d<\/p>\n Paramount staffers are bracing for a massive workforce reduction next month, part of the company\u2019s goal of finding more than $2 billion in spending cuts.<\/p>\n But, since the takeover, Paramount\u2019s Ellison has made a priority of beefing up relationships with talent through a series of big bets, including agreeing to pay $7.7 billion for media rights to UFC\u2019s mixed martial arts<\/u><\/a> events in the U.S. in a seven-year deal with TKO Group Holdings. <\/p>\n The company also invested in the construction of a Texas-based production hub for prolific \u201cYellowstone\u201d creator Taylor Sheridan and agreed to pay $1.5 billion over five years for streaming rights<\/u><\/a> for \u201cSouth Park,\u201d the Comedy Central cartoon. And Paramount lured Matt and Ross Duffer, who created \u201cStranger Things,\u201d away from Netflix with an exclusive four-year television, streaming and film deal.<\/p>\n