Hollywood Insider Trading & Hegseth’s “Slow-Motion Coup”

NFL’s D.C. Blitz, Vestiaire’s RealReal Problem, A.I. Market Realities

Happy Friday and welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon guide to Puck’s best new reporting. Here’s what you need to know…

What I’m Hearing: Polymarket and Kalshi allow users to wager on almost anything, from who wins Survivor to when the Avengers trailer drops—and hundreds of people in Hollywood know the answers before anyone else. Matt Belloni explores the town’s secret battle with insider betting. [Read More]
The Varsity: Federal regulators have been hammering the NFL ahead of the league’s media rights negotiations, and Roger Goodell just sent a contingent of executives to attempt to allay their concerns. John Ourand asks the NFL’s top media exec, Hans Schroeder, to break down the league’s appeal to the F.C.C. [Read More]
The Best & The Brightest: Pete Hegseth has fired nearly 30 generals and admirals—while Trump loyalist Lt. Gen. Christopher LaNeve has ascended the ranks to become the Army’s new chief of staff. Julia Ioffe shares exclusive reporting on the purge that facilitated LaNeve’s spectacular rise from obscurity. [Read More]
The Hidden Layer: A decade ago, a renowned artificial intelligence researcher declared that A.I. would render radiologists obsolete within five years. The radiology workforce has since grown by 40,000. Ian Krietzberg investigates the gap between A.I. prophecy and labor market reality. [Read More]
Line Sheet: Vestiaire Collective’s new C.E.O., Bernard Osta, has streamlined the embattled luxury reseller’s business operations, but the company is still struggling in several key markets. Malique Morris assesses whether the business can ever catch up with The RealReal. [Inner Circle Exclusive]

Meanwhile, on the pods…

The Town: Matt rings up Semafor’s Liz Hoffman to discuss Wall Street’s view of the Paramount–Warner Bros. merger. [Listen Here]
The Grill Room: Dylan Byers and Julia Alexander scrutinize Andreessen Horowitz’s new Twitter-based live show, and weigh in on social media’s warped view of C.E.O. culture. [Listen Here]
The Powers That Be: Peter Hamby connects with Eriq Gardner to discuss the whispers that Netflix is quietly working to torpedo the Paramount–Warner Bros. merger. [Listen Here]

HOLLYWOOD

Matthew Belloni

Kalshi & Hollywood’s Inside Edge

In the prediction market era, almost anyone can bet on anything—from Nicolás Maduro’s ouster to the Outer Banks release date—even if they have privileged knowledge that makes betting a sure thing. And while some studios and platforms are taking steps to thwart insider betting, it’s next to impossible to enforce.

SPORTS

John Ourand

Goodell’s Washington Ground Game

The feds have been breathing down the NFL’s neck all year, and a quartet of league executives made the pilgrimage to D.C. last week to plead their case.

WASHINGTON

Julia Ioffe

Hegseth’s Useful Tool

Gen. Christopher LaNeve, the new chief of the U.S. Army, has enjoyed a spectacular rise from obscurity, often at the expense of more popular generals that Pete Hegseth has purged—fueling suspicions that he’s become a proxy in Hegseth’s feuds and an active participant in his “slow-motion coup.”

A.I.

Ian Krietzberg

A.I.’s X-Ray Vision

Years ago, the field of radiology was predicted to be among the first to be decimated by A.I. job extinction. And yet today, radiologists are more in demand than ever, and the field’s job-extinction moment is seen as a false alarm.

FASHION

Malique Morris

The Fresh Prince of Vestiaire

Resale platform Vestiaire Collective has a reputation for chaos, but its buttoned-up new C.E.O., Bernard Osta, has started to tame the company with a focus on operational efficiency. Does the former banker have the fashion chops to mint a viable competitor to The RealReal and Vinted?

HOLLYWOOD

Matthew Belloni

WarnerMount One Step Closer & The Bizarre Michael Backstory

Matt is joined by Semafor’s business and finance editor Liz Hoffman to discuss Wall Street’s view of the Paramount–Warner Bros. merger, this morning’s WBD shareholder vote to approve the $110 billion deal, the nonbinding rejection of David Zaslav’s exorbitant pay package, how the board will respond, and Netflix’s reputation after its push to acquire Warner Bros.

MEDIA

Dylan Byers

Julia Alexander

The Livestream Ego Economy

Julia and Dylan discuss Andreessen Horowitz’s new Twitter-based live show, Monitoring the Situation, and what it reveals about the steep challenges of building influence in a hyper-fragmented media landscape. They also weigh in on the ego dynamics powering the livestreaming boom, social media’s grip on C.E.O. culture, the role legacy media plays in fueling the very shows that claim to be replacing it, and much more.

HOLLYWOOD

Peter Hamby

Eriq Gardner

The Powers that Be Daily, Starring Peter Hamby

Is Netflix Meddling in the Paramount–WBD Merger?

Eriq Gardner joins Peter to dig into the whispers around Washington that Netflix is quietly working to torpedo the proposed Paramount–Warner Bros. merger. Then they consider whether state attorneys general, including California’s Rob Bonta, have the legal muscle to block the merger—which is exactly what a lot of powerful people in Hollywood are demanding.

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