Andrew here. With the Ellison family planning to back a bid by Paramount to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, it could become the most important player at the intersection of media and technology. Larry Ellison, a backer of President Trump, is also in pole position to acquire TikTok if the U.S. can reach a deal with China.

The Ellisons could ultimately control Oracle, Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery and TikTok — a collective juggernaut with unique reach and influence. That ambition might also explain Paramount’s plan to buy Bari Weiss’s Free Press. It’s a way to signal to regulators in the Trump administration that the media powerhouse plans to move its news operations — and a potentially combined CBS-CNN — rightward. Or, as the company might say, more toward the center. More on all this below. But first:

A step forward for OpenAI

OpenAI appears to be moving closer to resolving an existential crisis, reaching a tentative agreement to rework its partnership with Microsoft.

A finalized deal would help the artificial intelligence start-up in its quest to convert into a for-profit company, a crucial step to unlocking billions more in funding. But even that doesn’t lift all the questions that are hanging over the ChatGPT maker, as investors continue to show concerns about the A.I. boom.

What we know about the OpenAI-Microsoft talks so far:

• The Times reports that the two have agreed to rework a clause in their original agreement that would rescind Microsoft’s access to OpenAI’s most advanced technology once the start-up had achieved so-called artificial general intelligence. (Read: A.I. as capable as a human brain, though the definition is hazy.)

• The Financial Times reports that Microsoft is also set to take a roughly 30 percent stake in a reorganized OpenAI once it becomes a for-profit company, worth perhaps $170 billion. The nonprofit organization that currently controls OpenAI will get a stake worth at least $100 billion, or more than 20 percent of the for-profit entity.

The stakes are huge. Establishing a for-profit structure (via a public benefit corporation) would let OpenAI eventually go public and raise money from outside investors. Nearly $20 billion worth of funds it has raised during the past year is contingent on the conversion.

For Microsoft, maintaining its uniquely close ties to a leading A.I. developer — even if it’s reportedly deepening its relationship with rivals like Anthropic — will help it maintain a technological lead over competitors including Google. Shares in Microsoft are up 1.2 percent in premarket trading on Friday.

OpenAI still faces questions about its future. Company executives are worried about the possibility state regulators in California and Delaware could block the conversion. (Elon Musk is also fighting the move.)