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 CNN Closes Ranks, CAA vs. the D.O.J., & Meta Goes Bust
Happy Friday, and welcome to our recent subscribers. This is The Daily Courant, presenting a cross-section of everything that’s new here at Puck.
First up, Dylan Byers returns with another heaping portion of Jeff Zucker dish—including an update on the media rumors regarding WarnerMedia’s investigation into the former CNN chief’s backroom dealings with the Cuomo brothers. And stay tuned for Dylan’s next dispatch on the Zucker drama, arriving later this evening. (Sign up here to get it directly in your inbox.)
Plus, below the fold, Matt Belloni reports on the arrival of the antitrust police in Century City. And Alex Kantrowitz explains why it’s “metaverse or bust” for Mark Zuckerberg.
Despite contrary reports, WarnerMedia’s investigation into Jeff Zucker is a closed matter. So if there is another shoe to drop, they aren’t dropping it. n the last 48 hours, WarnerMedia C.E.O. Jason Kilar has traveled to New York, Washington and Atlanta to try to quell the anger among CNN staff who are fiercely loyal to Jeff Zucker, their now-former president, and dubious about Kilar’s motives for Zucker’s abrupt and merciless ouster. Their unyielding sympathy for a man who admittedly violated company policy by failing to disclose a romance with his comms chief Allison Gollust has raised some eyebrows in media circles, but it’s indicative of an undeniable truth at CNN: whatever his flaws, successes, and failures, Zucker had earned a Confucian-level filial piety from those whose careers he had helped to create and cultivate.
In any case, Kilar’s effort was futile. His meeting in Washington devolved into insinuations that he was exacting revenge on Zucker for whatever hand the CNN chief may have had in the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger, which will almost certainly result in Kilar’s departure from the company once that deal closes. Throughout today, dozens of CNN executives, on-air talent and off-air insiders reached out to me to echo the sentiment put forth by Dana Bash in last night’s meeting in D.C.: “For a lot of us, the feeling is that, for Jeff, the punishment didn’t fit the crime.”
Pressed for more details on the cause for Zucker’s ouster, Kilar naively asked CNN staff to simply trust his decision. And so in lieu of more details, many CNN insiders—and media insiders, generally—have become consumed by a question: Is there another shoe to drop…?
FOUR STORIES WE’RE TALKING ABOUT 
CAA, ICM, and the inside conversation about whether the D.O.J. will crack down on the Lourd- Silbermann merger.
MATTHEW BELLONI 
It’s a strong possibility that Sarah Palin’s embarrassment makes First Amendment history, but not for the reasons you think.
ERIQ GARDNER 
Zuckerberg is diverting billions of dollars into the metaverse, even as Facebook’s core business begins to sour. Is it too late to turn back?
ALEX KANTROWITZ 
How the most prestigious bank on Wall Street became smaller than its peers. And the M&A deals that could put it back on top.
WILLIAM D. COHAN
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