Greene Inferno, Kylie’s Konundrum, R.F.K. Game Theory

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

First up today, Bill Cohan reveals the deal dynamics underpinning the Ellison-KKR-RedBird bid to pry Paramount Global away from Shari Redstone, a three-point plan to mollify shareholder anxieties and keep Apollo’s $26 billion financial bid at bay. Will it pass the Paramount special committee’s smell test?

Plus, below the fold: Dylan Byers evaluates the Joanna Coles and Ben Sherwood Daily Beast resuscitation strategy. Tina Nguyen digs into M.T.G.’s motion-to-vacate theatrics. Rachel Strugatz appraises the ostensibly teetering Kylie Jenner beauty empire. On Somebody’s Gotta Win, Tara Palmeri and Nathan Daschle dissect R.F.K.’s campaign optics and voter motivations in the ’24 presidential race. And on The Powers That Be, Dylan joins Peter Hamby for a spirited discussion of The Daily Beast’s fate under new management.

WILLIAM D. COHAN

I’ve got the skinny on the Ellison-Paramount deal—an extraordinarily fascinating deleveraged recap featuring a multibillion-dollar PIPE, Jeff Shell’s return to the top ranks of the media world, and possibly even Jeff Zucker’s revival as a top television executive. You can’t make this shit up. Will the special committee of the board buy it?

DYLAN BYERS

Why are shoulder-rubbers Ben Sherwood and Joanna Coles taking over Barry Diller’s last-gen mediaco that no one else really wanted? Well, what were the alternatives?

TINA NGUYEN

Scenes from the latest House Republican mutiny-in-progress.

RACHEL STRUGATZ

Nearly a decade after her initial success, Kylie Jenner’s brand is out of date and her tactics have been mainstreamed. So what’s a Kardashian to do?