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WALL STREET

Marc Rowan
William D. Cohan • November 27, 2024

The Apollo Landing That Wasn’t

Last week, Apollo’s Marc Rowan was summoned to Mar-a-Lago to talk about leading the Treasury for Trump 2.0. And while the job went to Scott Bessent in the end, the meeting reveals the president-elect’s sweeping agenda and what some on Wall Street see as a massive opportunity.
William D. Cohan • November 24, 2024
The Legend of the Celtics L.B.O.
Wyc Grousbeck
The true story of how Wyc Grousbeck, perhaps the least well-capitalized owner in sports, had the chutzpah to buy the Celtics in one of the greatest deals in modern sports history.
William D. Cohan • November 20, 2024
Apollo Lands in Washington
Marc Rowan
As Apollo C.E.O. Marc Rowan prepares to meet with Trump over the Treasury job, a bildungsroman of his professional and deal career—from parking cars at the Diplomat Hotel to big mergers for junk bond casualty Drexel Burnham—and his reflections from our many conversations over the past years and days.
Bob Iger needs to find a partner to offload Disney's declining TV networks.
William D. Cohan • November 17, 2024
Cable Prepares for the Value Extraction Era
With the once-unprofitable streaming business finally turning a corner, NBCU, Disney, and WBD are all openly telegraphing what seems increasingly inevitable: spinning off or selling declining TV assets while there’s still value to extract. Enter private equity, an industry that knows a thing or two about value extraction…
elon musk trump rally
William D. Cohan • November 13, 2024
The X/DJT Merger Deal Book
Crunching the numbers on a Mar-a-Lago meme stock fever dream.
Gary Cohn donald trump
William D. Cohan • November 10, 2024
Trump Treasury Prophecies & Trickle-Down Zazonomics
News and notes on two of Wall Street’s hottest topics: speculation regarding Trump’s forthcoming treasury secretary (Steve? Gary? Paulson?) and the latest debt-servicing tea leaves in Zazworld.
david ellison
William D. Cohan • November 6, 2024
The Secret History of the Paramount Deal
What the merger’s 600-page proxy filing reveals about who wanted Paramount (Zaz! Apollo! The mysterious “Party F”!) and how they managed to lose to David Ellison’s Skydance.
Mike Cavanagh bryan lourd
William D. Cohan • November 3, 2024
The Comcast Cable Prenup
Mike Cavanagh’s earnings call mic drop about the future of Comcast’s cable networks has the industry—and the denizens of 30 Rock, in particular—looking for tea leaves to read about what the executives in Philly are apparently “studying.”
James Gorman
William D. Cohan • October 30, 2024
What Would James Gorman Do?
News, notes, tea leaf-reading, and second-guessing regarding Wall Street’s favorite (recurring) succession sweepstakes.
donald trump
William D. Cohan • October 27, 2024
Wall Street Bets on Trump 2.0
The rest of America may see the election as too close to call, but Wall Street is preparing for Trump’s second coming. Herewith, a chilling chat with a couple liberal finance titans, who also happen to be Trump Wall Street truthers.
cathie wood
William D. Cohan • October 23, 2024
Raider of the Lost ARK
Since her fund’s pandemic peak, Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest has vaporized $14.3 billion in shareholder value. So why is she still giving investment advice on CNBC?
Simon Johnson
William D. Cohan • October 20, 2024
The Trump Economic Disaster Warning
My recent chat with Simon Johnson, a newly minted Nobel laureate, covered all the pre-election anxiety touchstones: the inflation political headache, Biden’s financial comms challenge, Trump’s phony arithmetic, and some memories of 2008, too.
marc rowan
William D. Cohan • October 16, 2024
Barbarians at the Pearly Gates
Once upon a time, the LBO business was the most innovative and disruptive—and, honestly, sexy—part of Wall Street, planting the seed for the ~$6 trillion private equity market. But now that P.E. is pivoting to private credit, a new set of tools are being unleashed, and a new generation of winners and losers will be minted.
Ron Perelman
William D. Cohan • October 13, 2024
A Miracle on 62nd Street
A previously unreported health mitzvah may explain Ronald Perelman’s apparent Zen mind state in recent years, as the man who used to be the richest person in the U.S. recasts his empire.
bill ackman
William D. Cohan • October 9, 2024
Ackman’s Big Harvard Short
After a topsy-turvy year in both the public markets and his personal life, Bill Ackman has returned to a familiar activist target: his alma mater, its fiscal mismanagement, woke mind virus, and illiquid investment portfolio.
leon black
William D. Cohan • October 6, 2024
Leon Black’s New Legal Stunner
In a highly unusual development in the “Jane Doe” suit against the billionaire Apollo founder, Black’s lawyers are demanding access to sealed documents that they believe will show his accuser fabricated her story—and that she might not be an Epstein victim at all.
ron perelman
William D. Cohan • October 2, 2024
Perelman Jam
Once the richest man in America, Ron Perelman has been humbled into a simpler life—selling off his art, backing away from philanthropy, winnowing MacAndrews & Forbes. So what happened over the past several years that caused his $20 billion personal fortune to go up in smoke?
s.b.f sam bankman-fried
William D. Cohan • September 29, 2024
The Final Days of S.B.F. & FTX
A new report from FTX’s court-appointed examiner reveals, in new and sordid details, the gruesome internal dynamics inside the House of S.B.F.