WALL STREET
William D. Cohan
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January 18, 2026
The Ellison Way of Parenting
David Ellison’s latest schemes to wrest Warner Bros. from Netflix have proved insufficient after his previous negotiating tactics ran up the price. Meanwhile, he’s losing the respect of the WBD guys across the table. But will his dad come to the rescue with another, say, $10 billion to bail him out?
William D. Cohan
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January 14, 2026
A History of Creditor-on-Creditor Violence
Wall Street invented the coercive liability management exercise, which allows companies to play their creditors against one another as they extract beneficial terms for themselves—a now-routinized tradition referred to as “creditor-on-creditor violence.” But now Apollo, Oaktree, BlackRock, and JPMorgan Chase are teaming up to put an end to this mess.
William D. Cohan
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January 11, 2026
The Zaz–Ellison Dagger Contest
Warner Bros. Discovery’s most recent S.E.C. filing reveals the latest battle lines between the company and its hostile suitor. In particular, the document evinces a deep distrust of Paramount Skydance’s proposed deal financing, recasting the $108 billion all-cash offer as an $87 billion L.B.O. that could fall apart before closing.
William D. Cohan
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January 7, 2026
What Is Zaz TV Really Worth?
The battle for Warner Bros. Discovery is increasingly coming down to how Netflix and Paramount Skydance value the declining TV assets (and CNN) that David Zaslav is determined to separate from the Warners mothership. Versant, which just started trading on Nasdaq this week, may provide the answer.
William D. Cohan
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January 4, 2026
Make Berkshire Hathaway Great Again?
Greg Abel, the handpicked successor to Warren Buffett, faces one of the most exalted and daunting jobs in finance: determining what to do with the staggering $358 billion bequeathed to him by the most legendary investor of his generation. Herewith, three proposals for what Abel should buy with all that cash.
William D. Cohan
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December 28, 2025
Zaz Is From Mars, the Ellisons Are From Venus
Murmurs from sources close to the Warner Bros. Discovery deal illuminate the latest machinations surrounding the Paramount-Netflix showdown—and where this thing is headed.
William D. Cohan
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December 21, 2025
“Larry Didn’t Show Up, and David Got Ahead of His Skis”
Everything you wanted to know about the Warner Bros. Discovery board’s doubts with the Ellisons’ bid (but were afraid to ask) is revealed in its 14D-9 filing—a mother lode of alleged Paramount missteps, from squabbles over consent provisions and breakup fee reimbursements to junior lien debt and the financial capacity of the world’s fifth-richest man.
William D. Cohan
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December 14, 2025
Ellison Irrevocable Trust Issues
Despite their numerous bids for all of WBD, a rift has opened between the principals at Paramount Skydance and the board and advisors of their target company—at least for now. Can money heal all wounds?
William D. Cohan
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December 10, 2025
The Ellisons at the Gates
Paramount has raised the stakes in its hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, and may yet go higher. Now Netflix must decide how much it wants to venture into junk credit-rating territory, or play games with its stock, to secure the prize.
William D. Cohan
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December 7, 2025
Netflix’s $83B Math & The Ellison Hostile Meter
A talmudic reading of the mishegas following the $83 billion Netflix-WBD deal: Zaz’s personal economics; the likelihood that this turns hostile; the unusual consortium of banks underwriting the deal; the value of the Gunnar stub; regulatory open questions; the $5.8 billion breakup fee; and more.
William D. Cohan
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December 3, 2025
The Epstein Monologues
The recently released, one-sided correspondence between Jeffrey Epstein and Leon Black illustrates a discourse between a hustler and a billionaire with too much money and too little time on his hands. So why couldn’t Black get rid of him sooner?
William D. Cohan
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November 26, 2025
Wall Street Enters the “Cockroach” Wars
The multitrillion-dollar growth of private credit is fueling an acrimonious debate on Wall Street over whether this surging shadow market is the future of finance or the seed corn of the next crisis. Is Rowan right? Or Dimon? Or Gundlach? As Mike Mayo put it, someone is wrong.
William D. Cohan
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November 23, 2025
Zaz the World Turns
News, notes, and palace intrigues from all sides of what might become the largest M&A deal of the year: the three-way tussle for David Zaslav’s Warner Bros. Discovery.
William D. Cohan
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November 19, 2025
The Spirit of ’29
Financial history doesn’t repeat itself, but it does often rhyme. Amid a speculative frenzy, deregulation, trade wars, and a handful of megacaps propping up the markets, some of Wall Street’s brightest minds wonder whether 2026 might resemble 1929.
William D. Cohan
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November 16, 2025
Street Credit
A recent string of bankruptcies and defaults suggests some challenges in the seemingly indomitable private credit market. And yet, according to some O.G.s, things have never been better. Apollo’s Marc Rowan lays bare the risks and rewards.
William D. Cohan
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November 12, 2025
Ellisonology 101
In his first earnings call as C.E.O. of Paramount Skydance, David Ellison offered a masterclass in corporate optimism, promising “synergies” and artfully dodging questions about a possible Warner Bros. Discovery takeover. Alas, the time to act is here.
William D. Cohan
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November 5, 2025
What Does Bloomberg Want for Bloomberg L.P.?
A modest proposal for how New York’s $100 billion man could bequeath his namesake, and its monumental profits in perpetuity.
