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WALL STREET

If you thought Bill Ackman would be placated by the resignation of University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill, following the congressional hearing during which she and other academic leaders fumbled their answers about antisemitism on campus, then you haven’t been paying attention.

Ackman’s Revenge & The Iger Hollywood Ending

News and notes on the trending Wall Street-media axis of interest: Ackman’s P.R. battle royale, Iger’s proxy wars, and Jimmy Pitaro’s latest mega-check.
William D. Cohan • January 7, 2024
William D. Cohan • January 3, 2024
The Raising of Lazard
Peter Orszag
Peter Orszag, the new Lazard C.E.O., has an ambitious plan to double revenue by 2030. But can the former Obama aide transform an eccentric culture by emphasizing productivity, recalibrating fee structures, culling underperformers, and bringing in some rainmakers? He thinks so…
William D. Cohan • December 27, 2023
A Very Shari Christmas
Is Shari Redstone’s dalliance with the M&A market a bust, or is anyone seriously capable of buying the Frankenstein’s monster that is Paramount Global?
Zaz & Co. have hired Allen & Co. to dig into the Paramount financials. Is this thing for real for now? Imagining the twists and turns and ultimate denouement of the House of Sumner.
The task will be for Bob Bakish to sell Shari on this or another deal, all while Shari carries on her own talks for NAI.
Matthew Belloni • December 22, 2023
Warners, Paramount, and the Allure of Mutual Desperation
Notes on Zaslav’s leaked meeting with Bakish, the deal chatter choreography, and the Comcast of it all.
Shari Redstone, president of National Amusements, walks to a morning session at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 12, 2023 in Sun Valley, Idaho.
William D. Cohan • December 20, 2023
Shari’s Double-Trigger Deal Cooler
David Ellison and Gerry Cardinale’s oh-so-clever plan to seize Paramount Global through NAI would also have to contend with a potential $11.2 billion landmine: the crushing debt that would immediately come due if Wall Street downgrades Paramount’s credit rating.
Bill Ackman was as critical of Harvard’s admissions policies when he was an undergraduate as he is today as a billionaire tweeter.
William D. Cohan • December 17, 2023
Ackman’s Harvard Admissions
Wall Street’s most voluble hedge fund macher is very publicly denouncing university presidents for their inability to police (and outright condemn) antisemitism on their campuses, while also supporting and investing in Elon Musk’s media company. Is this a contradiction, or just Ackman’s unique logic?
Sumner and Shari Redstone in 2012.
William D. Cohan • December 13, 2023
I Know What You Did Last Sumner
An examination of the hidden complexities in Gerry Cardinale and David Ellison’s clever attempt to buy National Amusements from Shari Redstone—and, with it, the controlling stake in Paramount Global.
The Redstone family’s 10 percent economic stake in Paramount Global is now worth $1.1 billion.
William D. Cohan • December 10, 2023
Shari’s Heirloom Sale & Iger’s Peltz Defense
News and notes on the latest intrigues from the media investor swirl.
Ari Emanuel and Silver Lake are managing the consequences of publicly mulling a sale of Endeavor, and are now trying to keep everything buttoned up as the market waits and salivates.
William D. Cohan • December 6, 2023
Ari’s Deal & Zucker’s Next Steps
News and notes from the biggest deals in the media M&A landscape: Ari Emanuel’s purported take-private and Jeff Zucker’s Telegraph/Spectator play.
The nascent Bob Iger-Nelson Peltz proxy war is gearing up to be far more feisty than their first encounter almost a year ago.
William D. Cohan • December 3, 2023
Iger-Peltz Vulcan Chess, Zucker’s Thesis & Elon EBITDA
News and notes on the three biggest stories at the intersection of media and finance: some micro-updates on Zucker’s Telegraph bid, Elon’s debt gamble, and the latest round of Iger versus Peltz.
Not only would a Jeff Zucker deal potentially kill the auction for the publications, it might also allow RedBird IMI to get the assets more cheaply than if they were bid up in a formal process.
William D. Cohan • November 29, 2023
Zucker’s Structure Wrinkle & OpenAI Open Questions
News and notes emanating from the finance-media-tech vortex: insights into Jeff Zucker and RedBird IMI’s debt-for-equity Telegraph offer and Microsoft’s governance peccadilloes.
Burford Capital C.E.O. Christopher Bogart.
Eriq Gardner • November 27, 2023
An Interview With the Legal World’s $16 Billion Man
Christopher Bogart, the litigation financier who scored a 10-figure judgment against Argentina, goes on the record about his beef with Mike Johnson, Elon Musk’s legal fixer, and how he’s using A.I.
“I’ve never had better material,” Michael Lewis said. “The material is unbelievable. And it was. But it had to pass through this American moral filter.”
William D. Cohan • November 26, 2023
Michael Lewis Has More Thoughts on S.B.F.
The bestselling author of Going Infinite hits back at the “shit show” criticism of his book, the spectacle inside the courtroom, and S.B.F.’s putative $5 billion offer to Trump.
Trian founder partner Nelson Peltz has commenced a proxy battle against Disney to get the board seat Iger denied him.
William D. Cohan • November 19, 2023
A Zaz Wellness Check & The Crocodile’s Iger Fib
News and notes on the latest Wall Street swirl: Nelson Peltz’s fuzz math, Zaz’s denominator problems, and the latest leg of the ARK saga.
Since the start of the WBD journey, according to David Zaslav, the company has paid down $12 billion of debt and is generating “over $5 billion in free cash flow” at the moment.
William D. Cohan • November 12, 2023
Zaz-Adjusted EBITDA
An examination of the hidden green shoots at WBD. Plus, notes on the latest maneuvers at BDT & MSD Partners, and how S.B.F.’s downfall is reverberating through the crypto universe.
Copeland portrays Dalio as a cruel-hearted megalomaniac who delighted in reducing his partners—to say nothing of many others who work at Bridgewater—into insecure, quivering piles of jello.
William D. Cohan • November 8, 2023
The Shape of Bridgewater
A wide-ranging conversation with Rob Copeland, the author of a provocative new book about Ray Dalio and his hedge fund.
Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio in 2019.
William D. Cohan • November 5, 2023
Dalio Dish, Shari’s Bounce & Mungerology
News and notes and the latest intrigue swirling around Wall Street: what’s in the Dalio book, Munger’s wisdom, and Shari’s choice.
Could there ever be a proverbial “run on the bank” at Bank of America, as there was at SVB earlier this year?
William D. Cohan • November 1, 2023
The BofA $136B Dynamite Stick
Bank of America has what appears to be $136 billion of unrealized losses on its balance sheet. Is this a material nightmare, or simply an explanation for why its market cap is half of the Bank of Dimon?