Bros. Discovery executives wrapping up their opening night festivities in Paris. Yes, David Zaslav has decamped to the Hôtel de Crillon—WBD carries the Olympics overseas on Eurosport and Discovery+—and, as my partner Matt Belloni reports, he’s invited all his direct reports and is flying in multiple waves of talent for V.I.P. experiences, despite having just laid off another 1,000 employees. Shades of Cannes, but no matter: Zaz shall not be fazed.

Back in the States, of course, Zaz has formally filed suit against the NBA over its decision to reject WBD’s matching rights and strike a deal with Amazon. And now, he and his new comms chief Robert Gibbs have enlisted Edelman, the formidable P.R. firm, to fight back with a rather incoherent and guttural smear campaign against Amazon and the NBA. So, in tonight’s email, news and notes on Zaz’s mystifying decision to turn this headache into a full-blown migraine.

But first…

🗞️ Will the Financial Times head to the block?: Might the FT, the august salmon-hued internationalist business broadsheet, eventually hit the market? Several Nikkei board members have grown impatient with the Financial Times’ economic performance and are pushing for consideration of a sale, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter. The Japanese holding firm bought the FT nearly a decade ago for £844 million, or $1.32 billion, but it has “never really met expectations,” one source with knowledge of the business said. (FT spokespeople declined to comment.)

Obviously, there would be no shortage of interested buyers on both sides of the Atlantic: Jeff Bezos? Mike Bloomberg? Mathias Döpfner? (Axel Springer once lusted after the FT. Losing out on the property may have helped turn its deal team toward acquiring Henry Blodget’s Business Insider.) Then there are the U.K. media titans currently circling the Telegraph, though it’s not clear how many of them would have the liquidity. And of course, the new legislation put in place to block Jeff Zucker’s Telegraph bid would preclude any of those firms from tapping into Middle East sovereign wealth money. Still, would Zucker find a way to effort an offer, perhaps by getting Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird to backstop the deal?

⚖️ Murdoch succession watch: Rupert Murdoch, who is not likely to bid for the FT given U.K. competition rules, is awaiting the Nevada court case that will decide whether he can rewrite the terms of his irrevocable trust to give his favored son Lachlan control of his media empire. As the Times reported, Murdoch fears that Lachlan’s “more politically moderate siblings” might try to change the company’s “conservative editorial bent,” hurting the commercial value of the business. And there’s certainly an argument to be made there. At Reuters, Jennifer Saba notes that shareholders would probably prefer “an unelected emperor” to “a squabbling committee.” I suppose it also helps that Fox’s stock is up 24% year to date.

This is life imitating art imitating life, of course. As one media exec texted me, Jesse Armstrong, the creator of HBO’s Succession, probably would have rejected this plotline for being too on the nose—most notably the scene in which Rupert’s daughter Elisabeth hurled expletives at her father after he pitched her on the idea, which he dubbed Project Harmony.

But it is indeed incredible to think about what’s at stake for Murdoch here. As this media executive put it: “You conquer the entire world. You claw, battle, crush and destroy. You break the world to your will from Australia to England and the U.S. And in the end, a probate commissioner named Edmund Gorman in Reno will decide the fate and future of the entire global empire. You’re estranged from three of your adult kids. You’re 93 and you’re still getting married and fighting like it’s the first inning. It’s extraordinary.”

🇺🇸 Trump-Harris debate watch: Back in the political arena, Donald Trump has at least temporarily reneged on his commitment to participate in the ABC News debate on September 10. In a somewhat batshit crazy statement, Trump comms chief Steven Cheung said it would be “inappropriate” to schedule a debate with Kamala Harris because some Democrats think Harris is “a Marxist fraud who cannot beat President Trump, and they are still holding out for someone’s ‘better.’” Obviously, that’s quite a dodge on Trump’s part. In any event, ABC News is in a holding pattern until Harris formally secures the nomination, after which it will try once again to secure the debate.

And now, back to Zaz…

Shortly after the NBA’s announcement, however, civil rights leaders, influential Black public figures, and some of the league’s current and former players got pitched on a different narrative. Over the last 48 hours, representatives from Edelman, the white shoe P.R. firm, have called and texted these people on behalf of WBD, seeking to persuade them that the NBA’s decision to side with a streaming service instead of a linear partner, like TNT, will disenfranchise Black and other minority viewers. “Who’s thinking about Uncle Bob?” one Edelman rep wrote in one text. “Nearly half of TNT viewers are Black. 2 in 5 NBA fans are non-white. 42 million rural Americans lack access to reliable high-speed internet—and for millions more in America’s cities and suburbs, it’s available but too costly.”

Notably, the arguments put forward by Edelman over the last 48 hours were echoed in a piece by Fox Business correspondent and New York Post columnist Charlie Gasparino on Friday. “Expect [Zaslav] to be making a populist case that the NBA is jumping into bed with Big Tech—and forcing kids, including inner-city kids, to pay extra to watch games on Amazon that they could watch already on TNT through their cable subscriptions,” he wrote. Weirdly, the column ran in print but is not online. And Zaz, with his generous salary and Bob Evans pad, hardly fits the bill of a populist warrior.

Separately, Charles Barkley, the Inside the NBA co-host and beloved star of the NBA cinematic universe, also issued a statement on Friday protesting the NBA’s decision: “It’s a sad day when owners and commissioners choose money over the fans,” he wrote. “It just sucks.” It’s not clear whether Barkley’s statement has any relation to the Edelman effort. Meanwhile, Barkley has also said that he will entertain offers from ESPN, NBC, and Amazon if TNT does not honor his 10-year, $210 million contract.

News of Edelman’s campaign has understandably angered executives at both the NBA and Amazon, especially since the NBA and TNT have another year left in their existing deal—I’m sure the NBA is just thrilled by the prospect of Barkley speaking his mind about all this on TNT for another season—and Amazon and WBD do business together on the streaming side.

The Edelman campaign coincides with the arrival of Robert Gibbs to WBD. Gibbs, the former Obama White House press secretary who went on to lead communications for McDonald’s, is now in his first official week as Zaz’s chief communications and public affairs officer. Edelman’s work with WBD long predates Gibbs’ arrival. In any event, it’s not clear whether he bears some responsibility for this campaign, or if it represents the latest manifestation of the misguided communications strategy he’s been brought in to fix. In any event, it’s been a tough first week. (Gibbs declined to comment for this story).

For his sins, Zaz is currently in Paris enjoying the Olympics, since WBD carries the Games overseas on Eurosport and Discovery+. As my partner Matt Belloni reported, he’s staying at the Hôtel de Crillon and has invited all his direct reports and is flying in multiple waves of talent for V.I.P. experiences—despite the NBA fracas, and despite having just laid off another 1,000 employees in his endless pursuit of free cash flow and debt reduction.

For many current and former WBD employees watching the NBA saga unfold back at home, Zaz’s presence in Paris calls to mind his decision to throw a lavish party in Cannes amid an earlier round of cost cuts and while the labor wars in town began to rage. Some have resigned themselves to the idea that these juxtapositions will be the norm; others, not so much. As one former WBD employee texted on Friday: “He killed CNN. Tanked the company stock. Ruined the Turner sales team by draining it of its talent. Lost the NBA. Almost killed TCM. Ruined lives by running the place like a power-point document instead of one filled with uniquely talented individuals. Fucked up the movie studio. Pissed off the creatives and more. All at his own self enrichment. Mind boggling that he’s still there.”