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WALL STREET

Shari Redstone’s Paramount Global now has a market value of $9.75 billion.

Paramount Existentialism & More Goldmanology

Notes on the Wall Street chatter animating the Sconset crowd: Shari Redstone vs. Tyler Perry, the trials of David Solomon, and Steve Schwarzman’s word on Trump.
William D. Cohan • August 20, 2023
William D. Cohan • August 16, 2023
The Judgment of Solomon
The New York mag piece was a reflection of how bad things have gotten between David Solomon and the press.
Just when it seemed as though David Solomon was in the middle of an August reprieve, the embattled Goldman C.E.O. has found himself once again in the crosshairs, via back-to-back fusillades in the media last week. “Still standing,” quipped Tony Fratto, Goldman head of communications, to me in a weekend text.
William D. Cohan • August 13, 2023
Iger Deal Psychology
Looking at each of Iger’s recent strategic decisions, you’ve got to wonder if he may be running out of good ideas to solve Disney’s myriad of problems.
Iger may be consulting Warren Buffett (and Mayer and Staggs) about his streaming options, but in the everything-on-the-table era at Disney, well, there aren’t that many options really on the table. Herewith, a Wall Street view of a Hollywood challenge.
Who would be a logical buyer, if anyone, of the slimmed-down Paramount Global?
William D. Cohan • August 9, 2023
Are You There, Aryeh? It’s Me, Shari…
Now that S&S is coming off the books, and with BET likely next, what might a market look like for a deal-fit, debt-trimmed Paramount Global?
If Donald Trump retakes the White House, it seems unlikely that our fragile democracy could withstand another four years of his lies, irrational behavior, and vendettas.
William D. Cohan • August 6, 2023
The Rubenstein Doctrine
Would Donald Trump accept a radical deal to wipe his legal slate clean? Herewith, a consideration of a proposal from the heights of Wall Street.
Dan Yergin, the world-renowned energy consultant and Pulitzer-prize winning author.
William D. Cohan • August 2, 2023
Conscious Decoupling
My wide-ranging conversation with Dan Yergin, the renowned energy consultant and Pulitzer-winner and vice chairman of S&P Global, about everything from the Chinese economy and OPEC to nuclear power and U.C.O.
Can DeSantis pivot to the scrappy town hall strategy, fix his sagging poll numbers, and come back from the dead?
Peter Hamby • July 31, 2023
DeSantis’s Zombie Comeback Tour
Allies have pointed to McCain’s 2007 campaign comeback as the “perfect example” of why DeSantis shouldn’t be written off. But, as someone who rode the bus with McCain during those bleak days, I can tell you the comparison is perfectly imperfect.
Protestors gathering in front of the Repsol-YPF headquarters in Buenos Aires, demanding the nationalization of the company in December 2008.
Eriq Gardner • July 31, 2023
A $16 Billion Wall Street Lawsuit for the Ages
Burford Capital bet $15 million that it could take Argentina to the cleaners. The outcome could be worth billions—if Burford can get anyone to pay.
S.B.F.’s biggest problem continues to emanate from John J. Ray III, the new FTX C.E.O., who has made it his mission to recover as many assets as possible for the bankrupt estate and its forlorn creditors and customers.
William D. Cohan • July 30, 2023
The Latest S.B.F. Legal Saga
A talmudic reading of FTX C.E.O. John Ray’s latest report.
Ken Griffin has always been a politically aware center-right rich guy, sure, but he’s ascended to a new level on the G.O.P. donor Mount Rushmore after Trump.
Theodore Schleifer & William D. Cohan • July 25, 2023
Griffin vs. Dimon & The S.B.F. Delusion
A conversational power ranking of the top donors on Wall Street: Effron, Fink, Wolf, Schwarzman, and more. Plus notes on Ken Griffin’s DeSantis bet, Dimon’s ’24 flirtation, and whether S.B.F. is destined for the clink.
Goldman C.E.O. David Solomon is very smart, and knows he needs to turn things around in the second half of the year.
William D. Cohan • July 23, 2023
Goldman Murmurs, Netflix Curiosities & The Latest Elonology
Fresh insights and analysis on what the elite Wall Street crowd is ruminating about at Sebonack these days.
ESPN chief Jimmy Pitaro’s challenge now is to get direct-to-consumer done profitably, either for Disney, or for Comcast, or for some other strategic partner that Iger cooks up.
William D. Cohan • July 19, 2023
The ESPN-to-Comcast Deal Thesis
Ever since Iger’s stream of consciousness confessional in Sun Valley, M&A bankers have been fantasizing about the structure (and price) of a possible ESPN divestiture. Here’s the most compelling possibility.
William D. Cohan • July 16, 2023
Iger, Ego & Superego
Notes on the extension heard round the world, the comp question, the deal hypotheses, and whether Iger at Disney is the living exception to the de Gaulle postulation.
John J. Ray’s second interim report, filed at the tail end of June to the FTX independent directors and the Delaware bankruptcy court, is a doozy.
William D. Cohan • July 12, 2023
The S.B.F. Legal Colonoscopy, Part 2
In his second interim report on the FTX disaster, interim C.E.O. and financial catastrophe auditor to the stars John J. Ray describes a Bosch painting of stunning criminal machinations by Sam Bankman-Fried and his principal internal attorney, Daniel Friedberg. Herewith, a Talmudic reading...
In a letter written by Elon Musk’s lawyer to Mark Zuckerberg, Musk claims that the employees he fired walked across the street to Meta and set up Threads using Twitter’s trade secrets and expertise.
William D. Cohan • July 9, 2023
Elon’s Options & A Lazard Micro-Scandal
News and notes on the anxieties of the Wall Street crowd out East: the unfortunate Lazard scandal, Elon’s lawsuits, his M&A options and more.
Fairly or not, these days it seems that everything David Solomon does endures extreme scrutiny.
William D. Cohan • July 5, 2023
David vs. The Goldman Goliaths
Wall Street has been rife with rumors, many of which have found their way into the media, that David Solomon’s seat atop Goldman Sachs is increasingly hot. But I think the challenges for him at 200 West Street are largely exaggerated.
Buffett bristles when friends or associates trade on his name without specific permission, even if he has praised them publicly.
Matthew Belloni • June 30, 2023
Why Did Warren Buffett Eviscerate Michael Kives?
The Oracle hyper-manages his image and bristles when others leverage his name for their success. But there are a couple other, more complicated, factors as well.
In his brief and chaotic stint running his new media enterprise, Elon has apparently chosen not to pay lots of big Twitter bills.
William D. Cohan • June 28, 2023
The Elon Twitter Debt Vulcan Chess Theory
The world’s richest man, and newest media mogul, is developing a habit of stiffing Twitter’s creditors. Is he protecting Twitter’s balance sheet or playing a cynical game of Wall Street gamesmanship?