Trump’s Tech Goldmine, WHCD Micro-Dramas, Strike a Posen

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon dispatch featuring Puck’s latest reporting.

First up today, Matt Belloni presents an insider’s epilogue to the end of Bob Bakish’s 8-year tenure as Shari’s Paramount yes-man: Why did the guy she plucked from obscurity attempt to sabotage the Skydance sale, and what happens now that a new leadership triumvirate has filled the void?

Plus, below the fold: Lauren Sherman spot-checks the still-fresh Zac Posen experiment at Gap. John Ourand appraises the oncoming women’s sports gravy train. Peter Hamby chronicles Gen Z’s consequential R.F.K. infatuation. On Somebody’s Gotta Win, Tara Palmeri and Teddy Schleifer reveal the budding romance between Donald Trump and tech zillionaires. And on The Powers That Be, Dylan Byers joins Peter to parse the WHCD weekend micro-drama encompassing Politico, the Times, and the Biden administration.

MATTHEW BELLONI

A corporate eulogy for a Redstone yes-man as Shari finally turns on the guy she plucked from obscurity and empowered through Paramount’s troubled foray into the streaming wars, until he quietly sought to sabotage her planned sale to Skydance.

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LAUREN SHERMAN

Three months into his surprising appointment at Gap Inc., Zac Posen has quelled his naysayers by being a good colleague, playing nice with others, and delegating to talented executives. But can any of that halt the company’s descent?

JOHN OURAND

The Sports Innovation Lab is staging a NewFront this week in order to help monetize (and infrastructure-ize) the massive growth in the women’s sports space.

PETER HAMBY

The Kennedy campaign is pinning its hope on a combination of alarming factors breaking their way: “double haters” who can’t stand Trump or Biden, the rise of dudebro do-your-own-researchism, and an anti-establishment turn among Gen Z men, in particular, who are ripe for R.F.K.’s contrarian message.