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William D. Cohan

A bestselling author, renowned financial journalist, and former M&A banker, covering what’s really happening on Wall Street.

THE LATEST ARTICLES
NEWSLETTERS
ESPN chief Jimmy Pitaro’s challenge now is to get direct-to-consumer done profitably, either for Disney, or for Comcast, or for some other strategic partner that Iger cooks up.
William D. Cohan • July 19, 2023
The ESPN-to-Comcast Deal Thesis
Ever since Iger’s stream of consciousness confessional in Sun Valley, M&A bankers have been fantasizing about the structure (and price) of a possible ESPN divestiture. Here’s the most compelling possibility.
William D. Cohan • July 16, 2023
Iger, Ego & Superego
Notes on the extension heard round the world, the comp question, the deal hypotheses, and whether Iger at Disney is the living exception to the de Gaulle postulation.
John J. Ray’s second interim report, filed at the tail end of June to the FTX independent directors and the Delaware bankruptcy court, is a doozy.
William D. Cohan • July 12, 2023
The S.B.F. Legal Colonoscopy, Part 2
In his second interim report on the FTX disaster, interim C.E.O. and financial catastrophe auditor to the stars John J. Ray describes a Bosch painting of stunning criminal machinations by Sam Bankman-Fried and his principal internal attorney, Daniel Friedberg. Herewith, a Talmudic reading...
In a letter written by Elon Musk’s lawyer to Mark Zuckerberg, Musk claims that the employees he fired walked across the street to Meta and set up Threads using Twitter’s trade secrets and expertise.
William D. Cohan • July 9, 2023
Elon’s Options & A Lazard Micro-Scandal
News and notes on the anxieties of the Wall Street crowd out East: the unfortunate Lazard scandal, Elon’s lawsuits, his M&A options and more.
Fairly or not, these days it seems that everything David Solomon does endures extreme scrutiny.
William D. Cohan • July 5, 2023
David vs. The Goldman Goliaths
Wall Street has been rife with rumors, many of which have found their way into the media, that David Solomon’s seat atop Goldman Sachs is increasingly hot. But I think the challenges for him at 200 West Street are largely exaggerated.
In his brief and chaotic stint running his new media enterprise, Elon has apparently chosen not to pay lots of big Twitter bills.
William D. Cohan • June 28, 2023
The Elon Twitter Debt Vulcan Chess Theory
The world’s richest man, and newest media mogul, is developing a habit of stiffing Twitter’s creditors. Is he protecting Twitter’s balance sheet or playing a cynical game of Wall Street gamesmanship?
Why was it was largely people like Ben McKenzie, who existed outside TradFi (as the kids say these days), that spotted S.B.F.’s antics early on?
William D. Cohan • June 21, 2023
S.B.F. and an ‘O.C.’ Star Walk Into a Hotel…
Before Bankman-Fried’s downfall, the actor Ben McKenzie engaged in on-and-off correspondence with the alleged crypto scammer. Nearly a year later, McKenzie reflects on how S.B.F.’s purported crimes were “even dumber and simpler than I thought.”
William D. Cohan • June 18, 2023
Will Elon Lose Control of Twitter?
As a former restructuring and bankruptcy advisor at Lazard, I can recognize the signs of a company in distress. And it’s a pretty obvious tell that there’s financial trouble brewing when a company stops paying its bills.
Goldman Sachs C.E.O. David Solomon.
William D. Cohan • June 14, 2023
The Testament of Solomon
The rumblings are getting louder at 200 West that things are not as wonderful as they should be in Goldmanland: Despite a relatively buoyant stock price during the David Solomon era, high-level people are pissed. And, unlike the old days at the bank, they aren’t keeping it to themselves.
William D. Cohan • June 11, 2023
Zaslav’s ‘Martian’ Mission
Notes on the inside conversation percolating through the Teterboro crowd: WBD’s Sisyphean debt boulder and Gensler’s crypto holy war. Plus, a totally fitting Trump story for the ages.
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