Larry Ellison did not join the group of CEOs who accompanied President Trump on his state visit to China. He was not among the guests at a White House dinner hosted by Trump with tech giants. He also did not participate in the UFC event on Trump’s 80th birthday.
The Oracle billionaire was not required to attend these public events. Ellison, 81, has developed a more personal friendship with Trump that has helped his tech company’s business as well as his son’s effort to assemble a media conglomerate. Relationship key: Alison’s money.
Ellison gave nearly $45 million to a political nonprofit group supporting Trump’s re-election efforts in 2024, according to people familiar with the fundraising. Such funding is not subject to disclosure rules and has not been previously reported.
More recently, Ellison has given millions to groups supporting Trump since the election, the people said, with some of the funds going to Trump legacy initiatives in Washington, D.C. Oracle is one of the corporate sponsors listed by the Freedom 250, the Trump-aligned group hosting celebrations for the nation’s 250th birthday.
Federal disclosure filings show Trump’s investment accounts were actively trading Oracle shares earlier this year, including sales of at least $1 million in January and purchases of at least $1 million in March. In a statement, the Trump Organization said the president’s investments are managed independently and he is not involved in the selection or approval of investments.
White House spokesman Kush Desai said Trump is committed to working with every American business and business leader. Oracle declined to comment.
While Larry Ellison was not at the Ultimate Fighting Championship event at the White House this month, his son David Ellison was among the VIPs there. This happened a few days later Decision by the Department of Justice To approve the $81 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by his company, Paramount Skydance. Tamasha streamed by Paramount, which paid billions for the rights to UFC events under the leadership of David Ellison.
Ellison has developed a symbiotic friendship with Trump. Larry Ellison and the President share ideological beliefs in support of Israel and are critical of some mainstream media. David Ellison bought the Free Press in 2025 and installed news and opinion startup co-founder Bari Weiss at the helm of CBS News, where he has created significant change For staffing and programming. The merger with Warner would see CNN join the Ellison Group.
The President has publicly praised David Ellison. “You’re going to be very successful,” Trump said on stage recently after seeing the scion in the Miami crowd. “You’re going to blow your dad away, and he’s going to be very happy about it because he loves you.”
Trump said: “Say hello to him. Okay?”
Ellison has presented this proximity as a prominent place in the American technology and media landscape. The day after Trump’s second inauguration, Larry Ellison was in the West Wing when Oracle was chosen as the architectural backbone for the administration’s $500 billion plan to build artificial-intelligence data centers across the US. Later in 2025, Oracle was part of an investor group that acquired control of TikTok’s US operations in a deal brokered by the US government.
Ellison has not always supported Trump. Larry Ellison endorsed other Republican candidates for president in 2016 and 2024. This also included the endorsement of South Carolina Senator Tim Scott—whom he recently sought out as Trump’s pick as his vice presidential running mate in the presidential race. Federal records show David Ellison donated nearly $1 million to 2024, a Democratic super PAC supporting the Biden-Harris campaign.
According to people familiar with his donations, most of Larry Ellison’s political donations are through political nonprofit groups that are not required to disclose. Federal Election Commission filings do not show that Larry Ellison has given any money directly to the recent Trump campaign or related political-action committees.
While Trump and Larry Ellison frequently speak on the phone, Ellison has moved his home base to Florida and is known to visit Mar-a-Lago. His official residence is now a Beach Estate in Manalapan, Florida, which he purchased in 2022 for $173 million. It’s about a 20-minute drive from Trump’s club.
Larry Ellison is close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom Trump has a long-standing relationship. Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East, helped build Ellison’s close relationship with Trump, according to a person familiar with the relationship.
Larry Ellison and Trump became better acquainted about 10 years ago, connecting through Ellison’s longtime No. 2, Safra Catz. However Ellison and Katz initially supported the then-senator’s 2016 presidential bid. Marco Rubio, he went to Trump when he became the Republican nominee. Katz was a member of Trump’s presidential transition team in late 2016 and an adviser during his first term.
By February 2020, Ellison was becoming involved in Trump’s re-election efforts. He hosted a fundraiser for Trump at his private estate in Rancho Mirage, California, although he did not attend in person. He later said that he supports the president and wants him to succeed.
Ellison stood by Trump, including after he lost the 2020 presidential election. Less than two weeks later, Ellison joined a small group of Trump aides to discuss strategies for contesting the election results in some key states, according to emails cited in court records.
According to an email, some of the people on the call, including Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, longtime Trump legal adviser Jay Sekulow and Fox News host Sean Hannity, discussed claims of widespread voter fraud. One goal was to find a legal way to invalidate or recount ballots in swing states including Pennsylvania and Georgia.
Ellison largely stayed out of politics during the Biden administration. However, ahead of the 2024 election, Ellison discussed bankrolling Senator Scott of South Carolina in the presidential primary, according to people familiar with the conversations. Scott and Alison were close for years; Scott and his family made a few trips to Ellison’s property on the Hawaiian island of Lanai.
By the summer of 2024, Ellison strongly encouraged Trump to choose Scott as his running mate, suggesting that his financial support would depend on that choice, according to people familiar with Ellison’s knowledge. Instead Trump chose JD Vance as his running mate.
Allison soon recalibrated. Weeks later, when it became clear Trump had the momentum, Ellison donated about $45 million to a political nonprofit supporting Trump’s candidacy, making it one of the largest single injections of capital in the cycle, the people said.
Trump was inaugurated for his second term on January 20, 2025. A day later, Ellison arrived at the White House to unveil the Stargate project, a $500 billion privately funded initiative powered by Oracle’s cloud infrastructure.
There was just one problem: Alison didn’t have her passport or government-issued ID. White House protocol requires all visitors, regardless of status, to present a government ID to the Secret Service for entry.
When the matter reached the President, Trump personally intervened to admonish Ellison and told security, “Everyone knows who Larry is.” Ellison was eventually taken to the Roosevelt Room.
David Ellison, whose company Skydance was in the midst of a merger with CBS owner Paramount, met Trump at a UFC event in April 2025. The two were photographed ring side with Elon Musk.
Behind the scenes, the younger Ellison’s frustrations were growing as he waited for regulatory approval for the merger, and Paramount negotiated a high-stakes deal with Trump. The president filed a lawsuit against Paramount’s CBS for allegedly misleading editing of an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
Around that time, David Ellison called Paramount director Barbara Byrne and expressed his frustration because he was eager to close the merger and said he had heard it would take $49.5 million to settle, people familiar with the situation said. Byrne told Ellison she shouldn’t talk and informed Paramount’s lawyers and board, the people said.
“David asked to explain how long the settlement process has taken – there was no intention to disseminate information, interfere or collude in the settlement,” Byrne said in a statement. “In fact, the settlement negotiations were well known to us, as the company was negotiating with plaintiffs’ counsel through a mediator and through outside legal counsel.”
In July 2025, Paramount settled for $16 million. The merger was approved by regulators shortly thereafter.
By the end of 2025, with Paramount in control, the Ellison family turned their attention to Warner Bros. Discovery. Netflix reached a deal to acquire the historic Hollywood studios in December. Shortly thereafter, Larry Ellison called trumpThe Wall Street Journal reported.
Paramount made a competing offer, and the effort lasted for months. At one point, Larry Ellison told Trump that if Paramount Warner made the deal, he could overhaul CNN. According to people familiar with the matter, both men are not fans of the cable news channel, believing it to be biased toward liberal news and against the administration.
White House spokesperson Desai said, “President Trump has consistently stated that he was neutral toward all parties during the Warner Bros. Discovery bidding process.”
A spokesperson for Paramount said, “Other than the goal of providing truth-based journalism, no commitments have been made to any government body, state AG or federal agency from David or Larry Ellison regarding the future of CNN or any other news property.”
Following Netflix’s exit, Paramount secured a deal for Warner Bros. Discovery. Justice Department blessed the merger This month, an investigation was closed despite concerns from some Justice Department antitrust staffers. According to the Journal report, senior leaders believe David Ellison persuasively addressed many of the employees’ questions during the two-hour interview.
Write to Emily Glazer Emily.Glazer@wsj.comannie linsky annie.linskey@wsj.com and jessica tounkel jessica.toonker@wsj.com
