Sun Valley Intel & A $26B I.P.O. Mystery

Jul 9, 2026

Inside Platner’s Campaign Collapse, Hollywood’s I.P. Gold Rush, Art World’s $153M Question

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon guide to Puck’s best new reporting. Here’s what you need to know… and be sure to read through for more from Dylan’s Sun Valley notebook.

In the Room: This year’s Allen & Co. conference featured Jeff Bezos pitching gigawatt-scale data centers… in space; Satya Nadella preaching empathy for A.I. anxiety; and media executives largely shrugging off the Comcast–NBCUniversal split. Dylan Byers reports from Sun Valley and explains how the conference actually works these days. [Inner Circle Exclusive]
The Best & The Brightest: Graham Platner finally suspended his calamitous Senate campaign this week following a rape allegation, a Nazi tattoo scandal, and months of Democratic hand-wringing. Peter Hamby examines the collapse and blind spots on the left that made Platner’s rise possible in the first place. [Read More]
Dry Powder: A Milan-based holding company built on the wreckage of dozens of “fallen angel” internet brands just went public at a nearly $26 billion valuation. Bill Cohan breaks down the eye-popping multiples behind the offering and why 2026 is shaping up to be the Year of the I.P.O.—even for companies that have nothing to do with A.I. [Read More]
Wall Power: Receipts at the Old Masters sales in London jumped 34 percent this year, generating nearly $153 million in revenue between Sotheby’s and Christie’s. Marion Maneker combs through the results and what they signal about the state of the market’s broader resurgence. [Inner Circle Exclusive]

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Meanwhile, on the pods…

The Town: Matt Belloni is joined by producer Scott Glassgold to chew over the internet I.P. gold rush and the short-story boom that’s taken over Hollywood. [Listen Here]
The Varsity: John Ourand sits down with Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall to discuss the likelihood of an NBC sale post-spinoff, the fuzzy logic surrounding the $22 billion Fox–Roku deal, and whether linear networks can afford to pay more for the NFL. [Listen Here]
The Powers That Be: Peter and John debrief on the World Cup bonanza and how MLS can build on the momentum—before weighing in on the player-owner labor tensions looming over the otherwise terrific MLB season. [Listen Here or Watch Here]

And now, a little more on Big Tech’s Sun Valley takeover…

MEDIA

Seen & Being Seen in Sun Valley

On Wednesday morning at the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Jeff Bezos took the stage with Marc Andreessen and regaled the audience with the civilization-altering opportunities that exist in space—gigawatt-scale, solar-powered data centers among them. Their conversation was the highlight of a morning that also featured Ken Griffin and Satya Nadella, and captured something essential about the event: Its reputation as a media deal summit is now badly outdated.

As Dylan writes, the media executives the conference has long been known for are increasingly subordinate to the true masters of the universe: the tech titans redefining the very nature of media itself. Brian Roberts’s seismic decision to split Comcast and NBCUniversal? Most attendees simply shrugged. (“What else was he going to do?”) NBCU’s potential acquisitions? (“He can’t afford it.”) The future of NBC News? (“Do you know anyone who gets their news on TV?”) So, it seems, deals don’t actually happen because of Sun Valley; these people convene year-round, from Montecito to the Mediterranean, whenever they please. Instead they come to Idaho for a simpler reason: They want to be there, and for everyone to see them there, too.

Click here to read Dylan’s full story.

WASHINGTON

Peter Hamby

The Graham Platner Hostage Crisis

The left’s ongoing Platner nightmare reveals all too many of the Democrats’ blind spots—not only offering limitless chances to a white dude with personal issues and Nazi ink, but pinning so many national political hopes on the non-diverse, Berniecratic state of Maine.

WALL STREET

William D. Cohan

The Year of the I.P.O.rgasm

During the Year of the I.P.O., as declared by Blackstone’s Jon Gray back in February, two recent entrants into the canon stand out—one just completed and the other still to come. And neither has anything to do with space.

ART

Marion Maneker

Mastering the Old Masters

Last week’s Old Masters shows in London may not have had anything like last year’s $45 million Canaletto, but it attracted an influx of discriminating collectors (and not just Old Masters heads), drove demand, and pushed low estimates to satisfying new heights.

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HOLLYWOOD

Matthew Belloni

Inside the Internet I.P. Gold Rush Sweeping Hollywood

Matt is joined by producer Scott Glassgold to discuss internet I.P. and the short-story boom that has taken over Hollywood after major successes in Backrooms and Obsession; whether this is a micro or macro trend; how these internet stories are developed for the big screen; and whether studios have learned the right lessons from this year.

SPORTS

John Ourand

Can Linear TV Actually Afford More NFL?

Wells Fargo Securities analyst Steven Cahall joins John to cut through the noise on sports media’s biggest storylines: why a sale of NBC is less likely than the market assumes, the fuzzy logic surrounding the $22 billion Fox–Roku deal, whether linear networks can actually afford to pay more for the NFL, and much more.

SPORTS

Peter Hamby

John Ourand

The Powers that Be Daily, Starring Peter Hamby

MLS’s New Goals & MLB’s Labor Curveball

John Ourand joins Peter to debrief on a blockbuster World Cup that’s delivering massive TV ratings and renewing optimism among soccer officials about the future of the sport in the U.S.—and what it could mean for MLS specifically. Then they turn to MLB, where an otherwise terrific season is heading into the All-Star break under the familiar cloud of player-owner labor tensions.

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