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Microsoft

sam altman
Baratunde Thurston • January 15, 2024

A.I. & Its Times

On OpenAI eating the internet, the lawsuit heard ‘round the world, and a blueprint for detente with the media and entertainment business.
William D. Cohan • November 29, 2023
Zucker’s Structure Wrinkle & OpenAI Open Questions
Not only would a Jeff Zucker deal potentially kill the auction for the publications, it might also allow RedBird IMI to get the assets more cheaply than if they were bid up in a formal process.
News and notes emanating from the finance-media-tech vortex: insights into Jeff Zucker and RedBird IMI’s debt-for-equity Telegraph offer and Microsoft’s governance peccadilloes.
Eriq Gardner • July 17, 2023
Iger’s M&A Wiggle Room
The playbook for how to effectively challenge Lina Khan’s regulatory efforts is now out in the open.
Lina Khan, Biden’s wunderkind antitrust impresario, was long considered an M&A spoilsport. But Microsoft’s successful workaround in its attempted acquisition of Activision may pave a path for Iger to sell off ABC, ESPN, and much more.
Lina M. Khan
Eriq Gardner • December 12, 2022
Lina Khan’s Long-Game Microsoft Deal Killer
Microsoft’s $69 billion Activision deal may be defensible from an antitrust perspective. But Biden’s F.T.C. has an overwhelming advantage: time.
Brian Roberts
Dylan Byers • May 20, 2022
Brian Roberts’ One That Got Away
For months, the media elite have been wondering what the Comcast impresario might buy to scale up in the content wars. Turns out, Roberts had a plan that almost came together.
Michael Saylor
William D. Cohan • January 26, 2022
The Jack Welch of Crypto?
Why didn’t Microsoft buy Activision with its near-all-time-high stock? Why did Michael Saylor convert MicroStrategy’s treasury reserves into Bitcoin? Perhaps it’s because, as Ray Dalio says, “cash is trash.”
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son
William D. Cohan • January 23, 2022
Winter Is Coming for Wall Street
Notes on Peloton’s market value collapse, Netflix’s future, M&A arbitrage, and Apollo’s next potential pound of flesh.
Brian Roberts at Sun Valley in 2019
Dylan Byers • January 21, 2022
What’s Brian Roberts Gonna Buy Now?
After missing out on 21st Century Fox and the Zaz-Warner merger, Comcast seemed like a natural acquirer for Activision. But $69 billion of Microsoft’s money later, is there a plan B?
Bobby Kotick at Sun Valley
Dylan Byers • January 19, 2022
The Real Story Behind the Kotick-Nadella Deal
How a peace offering from Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s gaming chief, led Activision’s Bobby Kotick to a $69 billion deal.
Satya Nadella
Julia Alexander • January 19, 2022
Will Biden Crush the Microsoft-Activision Deal?
Gaming, like the entertainment-media-tech industry, is experiencing a wave of M&A action. Depending on how the D.O.J. and the F.T.C. respond, we’re likely to see much more of it.