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THE LATEST ARTICLES
William D. Cohan
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February 8, 2026
Mr. Sarandos Goes to Washington
Generally speaking, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate appear to hate Netflix’s deal for WBD almost as much as they hate each other. Could Ted Sarandos’s recent hearing in the upper chamber mark the beginning of the Ellisons’ comeback victory?
William D. Cohan
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February 4, 2026
A Creditor-on-Creditor Violence Safe Space
Having had enough of “liability management” carnage, U.S. companies facing Chapter 11 have started going across the pond for a softer landing.
William D. Cohan
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February 1, 2026
The Final Epstein Bank Shot
There are still another 3 million or so Epstein documents that the D.O.J. has yet to release, despite claiming its obligation has been fulfilled. Dan Novack, the enterprising First Amendment attorney who has been waging a FOIA war on the F.B.I., still has at least one last trick up his sleeve to unleash the mother lode.
William D. Cohan
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January 28, 2026
Tender Is the Fight
The Ellisons may have extended the deadline for WBD investors to tender their shares, but Paramount Skydance appears woefully behind the traditional Wall Street deadline. And their stub argument may simply not be as convincing as they had hoped.
William D. Cohan
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January 25, 2026
Ellison Rex
As the Netflix conquest of Warners looks more like a fait accompli, a new Paramount Skydance preliminary proxy statement once again argues for the supremacy of its bid—and with a couple of new persuasive arguments. But is PSKY’s reluctance to raise its bid a sign of an Oedipal test, or the inevitable realization that it’s time to move on?
William D. Cohan
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January 21, 2026
The Saks Financial Colonoscopy
Amid a torrent of bankruptcy filings, a blunt declaration by Saks Global’s newly appointed chief restructuring officer lays out precisely what went wrong and when, and who got screwed hardest—plus which risk-hungry investors are likely to call the shots moving forward. As it turns out, the company’s capital structure became “unsustainable” almost immediately after its $2.7 billion acquisition of Neiman Marcus Group in December 2024.
William D. Cohan
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January 18, 2026
The Ellison Way of Parenting
David Ellison’s latest schemes to wrest Warner Bros. from Netflix have proved insufficient after his previous negotiating tactics ran up the price. Meanwhile, he’s losing the respect of the WBD guys across the table. But will his dad come to the rescue with another, say, $10 billion to bail him out?
William D. Cohan
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January 14, 2026
A History of Creditor-on-Creditor Violence
Wall Street invented the coercive liability management exercise, which allows companies to play their creditors against one another as they extract beneficial terms for themselves—a now-routinized tradition referred to as “creditor-on-creditor violence.” But now Apollo, Oaktree, BlackRock, and JPMorgan Chase are teaming up to put an end to this mess.
William D. Cohan
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January 11, 2026
The Zaz–Ellison Dagger Contest
Warner Bros. Discovery’s most recent S.E.C. filing reveals the latest battle lines between the company and its hostile suitor. In particular, the document evinces a deep distrust of Paramount Skydance’s proposed deal financing, recasting the $108 billion all-cash offer as an $87 billion L.B.O. that could fall apart before closing.
William D. Cohan
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January 7, 2026
What Is Zaz TV Really Worth?
The battle for Warner Bros. Discovery is increasingly coming down to how Netflix and Paramount Skydance value the declining TV assets (and CNN) that David Zaslav is determined to separate from the Warners mothership. Versant, which just started trading on Nasdaq this week, may provide the answer.