Netflix, Warner Bros, Paramount… and a Live CEO Communication Master Class

Islands of Safety Master Class

This post is designed to highlight what I believe is a Master Class delivered by David Ellison on Communication, Influence, and Controlling the Narrative - Islands of Safety Style - via a real-time example that many people are paying attention to right now.

I encourage my clients to literally listen and learn from interviews like this and to pattern match success and failure in such interviews. They are valuable teachers. This one was so good, I’m publishing it here as a prime example of how to do communicate and influence using my Islands of Safety and SECS talk playbooks.

So to set the stage: It’s Monday, December 8, 2025 and I’m currently watching this M&A drama unfold live on CNBC. David Ellison is the son of Larry Ellison and the CEO of Paramount, and he is delivering a master class, “Islands of Safety” style, in how to talk to investors.

In summary, I’m publishing here for a 2 key reasons:

1. It’s a great example of CEO or CFO communications

2. It’s history and documenting this discussion is likely a moment in time many of us will want to review in the future

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Following are links to video on CNBC.com: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2025/12/08/paramount-skydance-ceo-says-their-offer-to-warner-bros-discovery-is-asuperior-for-shareholders-a.html

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2025/12/08/paramount-skydance-ceo-on-hostile-bid-for-wbd-weare-really-here-to-finish-what-we-started.html.

P.S. - It’s worth it to become one of my paid subscribers to get my “takes” on such events… go ahead hit that button. You’ll get this and a lot more like this and other upcoming webinars and events scheduled for 2026.