Happy Friday and welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon assortment of Puck’s best new reporting.

Today, we lead with Matt Belloni’s exclusive reporting on the state of play in the so-called WBD bidding war—which might be something of a misnomer, given that Apple and Netflix have seemingly bowed out of the race. Indeed, with each passing day, Paramount and the Ellisons appear to be the most viable bidders. Is a quick sale now Zaslav’s best bet?

Plus, below the fold: John Ourand interviews NBA commissioner Adam Silver about the league’s new $76 billion rights deal and his experiments with A.I. Julia Ioffe uncovers what’s really going on with Melania Trump’s dabbling in U.S.-Russia relations. Ian Krietzberg offers an exclusive look at an A.I. startup aiming to solve dyslexia. And for Inner Circle members, Lauren Sherman digs into the executive shake-up at the French resale platform Vestiaire Collective.

Meanwhile, on the pods: Matt rings up Fable C.E.O. Edward Saatchi on The Town to discuss why his new company could be the “Netflix of A.I.” On The Grill Room, Dylan Byers and Julia Alexander dissect the watershed Netflix–Spotify podcast deal. On Impolitic, John Heilemann and longtime diplomat Dennis Ross break down the ceasefire in Gaza. And on The Powers That Be, Peter Hamby and Ian scrutinize Sam Altman’s plan to allow ChatGPT to generate… erotica.

HOLLYWOOD

The pool of potential Warner Bros. Discovery acquirers has seemingly dwindled by two, and if the promised “bidding war” fails to materialize, Larry and David Ellison could make a compelling case for a quick sale.

SPORTS

A special live conversation with NBA commissioner Adam Silver about his new $76 billion rights deal and how A.I. will transform his business.

A Message From Ecco, Publishers of Julia Ioffe’s Motherland

Acclaimed journalist and Puck correspondent Julia Ioffe tells the story of modern Russia through the history of its women.

From her own physician great-grandmothers to Lenin’s lover; from the members of Pussy Riot to Yulia Navalnaya, Ioffe chronicles one of the most audacious social experiments in history and documents how it failed the very women it was meant to liberate.

Part memoir, part journalistic exploration, part history, Motherland reveals what it means to live through revolution, war, idealism, and heartbreak—and how the story of Russia today is tied to the sacrifices of its women.

Available now for preorder.

WASHINGTON

A purported breakthrough in Russian diplomacy comes from a surprising place. Plus, Moscow scores an apparent intelligence coup via a U.S. congresswoman, and Trump warms up to regime change.

A.I.

Dr. Coral Hoh has spent nearly a decade trying to prove that Dysolve, an A.I. platform designed to treat dyslexia, actually works. A randomized controlled trial just validated her approach.

FASHION

Trump’s tariffs, Brexit, and strategic miscalculations derailed Maximilian Bittner’s vision to create a French rival to TheRealReal. Now, Bittner is out, streamlining seems inevitable, and a potential sale could be next.

HOLLYWOOD

Matt is joined by Edward Saatchi, the C.E.O. of a startup called Fable, to discuss his new product, Showrunner, which is backed by Amazon and bills itself as the “Netflix of A.I.” The app allows users to create their own licensed versions of their favorite TV shows using A.I. Edward explains why he feels this is the proper way to use A.I. in Hollywood, how the app will make money and pay artists, the guardrails to ensure it is used properly, and how Hollywood studios feel about it.

A Message From Ecco, Publishers of Julia Ioffe’s Motherland

Acclaimed journalist and Puck correspondent Julia Ioffe tells the story of modern Russia through the history of its women.

From her own physician great-grandmothers to Lenin’s lover; from the members of Pussy Riot to Yulia Navalnaya, Ioffe chronicles one of the most audacious social experiments in history and documents how it failed the very women it was meant to liberate.

Part memoir, part journalistic exploration, part history, Motherland reveals what it means to live through revolution, war, idealism, and heartbreak—and how the story of Russia today is tied to the sacrifices of its women.

Available now for preorder.

MEDIA

Julia and Dylan chew over the week’s media mayhem: Netflix’s watershed podcast deal with Spotify, the booming industry of athlete-owned media, Gerry Cardinale’s unexpected foray into traditional media, the ominous layoffs looming over NBC and CBS News, and much, much more.

WASHINGTON

John welcomes Dennis Ross, the longtime diplomat sometimes referred to as “the Zelig of Middle East peace talks,” to discuss the deal brokered by Donald Trump to end the war in Gaza. Ross explains why the significance of Trump’s achievement shouldn’t be diminished, even if his claim of delivering “the historic dawn of a new Middle East” is wildly premature; what is required to build on this week’s momentum and lay the foundation of a lasting peace between Israel and Palestine; and what lessons can be learned from the last time a breakthrough in the region seemed to be at hand.

A.I.

Ian Krietzberg joins Peter to discuss OpenAI’s eternal tug-of-war between profit and principle. As Ian explains, Sam Altman insists he’s serving both—though his new plan to let ChatGPT generate erotica might undercut his narrative that OpenAI is making the world a better place. Ian also peels back the curtain on the company’s questionable legal maneuvers and whether they’re meant to chill its critics.

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