Companies Elon Musk invests in tend to do exceedingly well. That’s one reason Paramount is now weighing an equity check from Musk as it swallows Warner Bros. Discovery. That should not surprise anyone. David Ellison is Paramount’s CEO. He’s putting together a group of outside investors to share the bill. His father, Larry Ellison, the Oracle founder, already guaranteed more than $40 billion of the Warner Bros. deal and has backed Musk at Tesla and X. Asking Musk to take a piece is the obvious call. It would also be good for a film industry that needs a broader center of gravity. Hollywood needs this. The business turned divisive, and a wider appeal protects the jobs tied to making movies and reporting the news. A Musk check would spread the load off Larry Ellison and put a builder inside a company that just became a studio-and-news giant. That helps balance the industry. Anyone who actually cares about film workers should want that. Washington will scream because CNN and CBS sit in that stack. Let them. The money has to come from somewhere. The old gatekeepers lost the last fight over who owns the microphone. An investor who already runs a platform the public uses every day is not a shock. Other players are welcome to write their own checks. Competition is good. Musk in Paramount would be good for the film business if the money goes into making and distributing movies instead of protecting a club. David Ellison should make the ask. The industry has been lecturing the country while raising prices. A builder with skin in the game is an upgrade. Efficiency and profit are what pay better jobs. The only people opposed to Musk taking a stake in Paramount are the people who care more about the politics than the jobs.