William D. Cohan • April 27, 2022

Elon’s Gamble: Imagining Tesla Stock Judgment Day

Musk’s decision to secure Twitter with his Tesla stock leaves him vulnerable to a punishing margin call. Will Tesla shareholders pay the ultimate price for his Twitter folly?

William D. Cohan • April 24, 2022

Elon Sharpens His Vampire Teeth

Elon’s consummation, Zaz’s looming target, Ackman’s about-face, and other pressing questions sliding into Wall Street’s DMs.

William D. Cohan • April 20, 2022

How Elon Can Get That $40B

Will the world’s richest man risk his stake in Tesla, precarious as it is, to acquire Twitter? The smart money on Wall Street has already conceived a more elegant solution.

William D. Cohan • April 14, 2022

The Twitter Board’s Panic Room

Most of the takes out there are wrong. Musk is serious. And the Twitter board, Goldman, and its management team better be, too.

William D. Cohan • April 13, 2022

The Elon-Twitter Corporate Hostage Negotiation

Twitter has been at war with itself since its inception. But Elon Musk’s stock accumulation arms race is an existential crisis.

William D. Cohan • April 10, 2022

The Zaz Stock Strategy & Buffett’s New Tide

As ever on Wall Street, the smart get greedy when retail gets fearful. Plus: A history of Goldman scandals and the sports deal of the decade.

William D. Cohan • April 6, 2022

The Billion-Dollar Trump-Wall Street Mystery

Why did Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg apparently sideline an investigation into Trump’s business practices? And what might have happened, in a Vanceian era, had he not?

William D. Cohan • April 3, 2022

Ari’s Comp & Warren Buffett’s Wink

Musings on the questions of our time on Wall Street: What is Ari Emanuel really worth? Can the Fed protect us from a post-plague recession? And what is Warren Buffett secretly up to?

William D. Cohan • March 30, 2022

TikTok Capitalism Comes to Wall Street

In our age of Robinhood short squeezes and AMC apefests, social media influence is becoming the people’s leverage in the world of professional finance—where money is usually made from money. Now Animal Capital, a pioneering V.C. firm, is treating social media follower counts like real capital.

William D. Cohan • March 27, 2022

Crypto’s Boom & A Warren Buffett Mystery

The biggest risk-takers on Wall Street these days are looking west, to crypto funds on Sand Hill Road, or east, to the mother of all fire sales in Moscow. Plus: What I’m hearing about Buffett’s $27 million Goldman Sachs snub.

William D. Cohan • March 23, 2022

Iger, Chapek & A Brief History of the Succession Blues

Outgoing C.E.O.s have a habit of hanging around, from time to time, ever since the days of Jack Welch. But Chapek needs to forget about Iger, execute his business plan, and let that trove of incredible Disney assets run free.

William D. Cohan • March 20, 2022

Netflix’s New Math & A Wall Street Travesty

With markets off their euphoric highs, the conventional wisdom appears to have changed overnight for Netflix, Zaslav, and the bond desk at Goldman Sachs. Does it change the risk calculus for Shari, too?

William D. Cohan • March 16, 2022

Should Shari Redstone Flip CBS News?

Redstone likely can’t sell Paramount Global—oh, that name—until she finds a way to offload its broadcast and local news assets. For private equity dealmakers, here’s where things could get interesting.

William D. Cohan • March 13, 2022

Michael Lewis on Wall Street’s Past and Future

Sure, the days of strippers on the Salomon Brothers traders’ desks are long gone, but the iconic author has another revelation about what has changed most on Wall Street. “One of the incredible feats Wall Street has performed is preserving the businesses that aren’t really necessary anymore,” he says.

Matthew Belloni • March 11, 2022

The Cool Kids of NY Film Are Now Worth $2.5B

Inside Hollywood, A24 has always punched above its weight for an indie studio. Now the arty New York media brand is trading on its hipster ethos for $225 million in private equity cash—and, in this overheated market, why not?