Walden’s Happy Place, The YSL Paradox, Art Market Fallacies

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon assortment of Puck’s freshest reporting.

First up today, William D. Cohan circles the CBS-sized problem in Edgar Bronfman Jr.’s 13th-hour bid for Paramount. Even if the company’s special committee of the board flips its recommendation from the Ellison/RedBird offer, would Bronfman’s foreign partners create a CFIUS problem?

Plus, below the fold: John Heilemann gut checks the Dems’ post-D.N.C. euphoria. Dylan Byers examines the latest Bob Iger succession chatter. Marion Maneker offers a pressing rejoinder to recent art market hand-wringing. On Somebody’s Gotta Win, Tara Palmeri chats with Mosheh Oinounou and Ro Khanna about the red-pilling of Silicon Valley and Kamala Harris’s path to 270. On Fashion People, Lauren Sherman catches up with author Nancy MacDonnell about the Yves Saint Laurent paradox. And on The Powers That Be, Peter Hamby rings up Jon Kelly to chew over all the dish emanating from Chicago and reflect on Time magazine’s latest pivot.

WILLIAM D. COHAN

The latest strategic considerations regarding Edgar Bronfman Jr.’s 13th-hour bid for Paramount, how the special committee is adjudicating the rival offers, and why David Ellison’s Skydance will almost certainly come out on top.

JOHN HEILEMANN

Following a convention that was exceptional by every measure—ratings, volunteer sign-ups, fundraising, crowd size—here’s what Democratic operatives and political professionals are saying privately.

DYLAN BYERS

News, notes, and the latest inside conversation among the Toscana crowd about Dana Walden’s odds of succeeding Bob Iger.

MARION MANEKER

The Times profiled four artists whose work soared and then crashed at auction. Who’s to blame? Speculators, the eternal bogeyman of the art market? Or is there another story the media is missing?