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WALL STREET

bob iger

Iger’s Crocodile Tears

A candid assessment of Nelson Peltz’s 133-page dissertation on Disney—the latest salvo in his failing proxy battle.
William D. Cohan • March 10, 2024
William D. Cohan • March 6, 2024
Wall Street Hedges Its Bet on Biden
joe biden
The mandarins of high finance are now positioning their banks for the ultimate high-beta event: the return of Donald Trump.
William D. Cohan • March 3, 2024
Zaz’s Bonus Math & Trump’s Banking Crisis
david zaslav
News and notes on the Downtown Cip table chatter: Zaz’s Paramount false flag and Trump’s increasingly cumbersome penalty financing solutions.
Gunnar Wiedenfels
William D. Cohan • February 28, 2024
Naked Gunnar
A close reading of the latest Wall Street-media riddle: why Zaz’s financial henchman can’t arouse analysts while Warren can sweep his Shari losses under the post-EBITDA carpet.
bill ackman
William D. Cohan • February 25, 2024
The Measure of Ackman
A talmudic reading of the hedge fund manager’s latest three-hour soliloquy, Business Insider counteroffensive, and the general and growing oeuvre of his discontents.
donald trump
William D. Cohan • February 21, 2024
Sussing the Trump Estate Sale
Assessing Trump’s path to paying his recently levied $500 million-plus financial penalty.
During the fourth quarter of 2023, Warren Buffett sold 30.4 million shares of Paramount, or about one-third of his stake in the company.
William D. Cohan • February 18, 2024
Buffett’s Big Short
The Oracle of Omaha, presumably pissed that his underlings did the Paramount deal in the first place, is cutting his losses and apparently voting with his feet on a sale process run by his old banker, Byron Trott. Plus: Peltz’s defeat.
michael klein
William D. Cohan • February 14, 2024
Life & Times of Michael Klein
The fascinating and shocking but not surprising story of how a generationally talented banker found himself in the Senate’s crosshairs.
adam neumann
William D. Cohan • February 11, 2024
Neumann!
Does one of the world’s most disgraced entrepreneurs actually want to buy back his old company, or is Adam Neumann’s seemingly fake bid for WeWork just his latest P.R. ruse?
Larry Culp
William D. Cohan • February 7, 2024
Culp Fiction
In two months, GE, which Jack Welch once steered to a $650 billion market value, will officially be split into three public companies—the final act of its last C.E.O., Larry Culp. It didn’t have to be this way for America’s formerly most iconic company. This is how we got here.
byron allen
William D. Cohan • February 4, 2024
Allen & Company
News and notes on Byron Allen’s bid and the Paramount suitor carousel. Plus, Nelson Peltz’s script for the Disney turnaround.
When rich and powerful families get into a sticky situations, they tend to call Warren Buffett’s favorite banker, Byron Trott.
William D. Cohan • January 31, 2024
Some Like It Trott
Byron Trott, perhaps the most successful investment banker of his generation, has helped Buffett, the Pritzkers, the Waltons, and the Mars families. Can he work the same magic for Shari Redstone?
JPMorgan Chase is no closer to solving its succession problem after this game of musical chairs than it was before, especially since Jamie has zero reason to turn down a $50 million thank-you card in 2026.
William D. Cohan • January 28, 2024
The Jamie Switcheroo & Ellison’s Wishful Thinking
News and notes on the most topical items among the Sebonack crowd: Jamie’s executive shuffle, M&A activity at Paramount, and Elon’s stock rant.
The biggest impediment to a deal for the Redstone family’s NAI or Paramount Global is the change of control provision that would require any financial buyer to refinance $11.2 billion of Paramount’s senior notes.
William D. Cohan • January 24, 2024
The Apollo Vultures Are Circling Shari
Here’s what the apostles of private equity really want from the Redstone heirloom. “It’s the beginning of the end, not the end of the beginning,” as one wise banker told me.
The new lead independent director of Goldman Sachs will be David Viniar, the firm’s longtime chief financial officer.
William D. Cohan • January 21, 2024
Goldman’s Inside Man & Peltz’s Disney Fantasia
Notes on the two hottest governance topics among the Maidstone crowd: Goldman’s post-Bayo board shuffle and Peltz’s latest monkey wrench.
Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch attend the quarter-final match of the 2018 U.S. Open at Arthur Ashe stadium on September 5, 2018 in Flushing Meadows, Queens.
William D. Cohan • January 17, 2024
The Murdochs in M&A Land
Bankers and analysts are getting worked up about new deal heat surrounding the usual suspects: Paramount, WBD, and Comcast. But an interesting idea is percolating on Wall Street regarding the fate of another couple entities: the remaining, winnowed Murdoch assets.
Skydance Media C.E.O. David Ellison attends the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton on January 7, 2024.
William D. Cohan • January 14, 2024
Ellison’s Redstone Gambit & Ackman’s Endgame
News and notes on the stories percolating with the Dune Road crowd: David Ellison’s pursuit of National Amusements, Jamie’s boffo number, and Bill Ackman’s relentless crusade against KKR and Axel Springer.
First up for Comcast’s Brian Roberts in 2024 is the pending deal for the one-third stake in Hulu that Comcast owns, and that Bob Iger has said that Disney will buy.
William D. Cohan • January 10, 2024
The Philadelphia Story
Analyzing the position and motivation of the media industry’s biggest dealmaker as the bankers begin to swarm.