Balmain Drain, Vance’s Crucible, Perelman’s Fire Sale

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your digital menu featuring Puck’s best new reporting.

First up today, Dylan Byers reveals how a chicken parm dinner at Elio’s led to Brian Williams’ return to television (well… streaming) via a deal with Amazon for Williams to helm an Election Night special. Does this one-off partnership foreshadow the future of cable news?

Plus, below the fold: Bill Cohan reveals how Ron Perelman’s $20 billion fortune went up in smoke. Rachel Strugatz digs into Estée Lauder’s grand ambitions for Balmain Beauty. John Heilemann, Peter Hamby, and Dylan huddle up for a post-debate mini-roundtable on Walz’s Vance sanewashing and the manic sprint to November 5. On Somebody’s Gotta Win, Tara Palmeri chats with TikToker V Spehar about how social media influencers are swaying the election. On The Town, Dylan joins Matt Belloni to chronicle the final days of the $20 million TV host era. And on The Powers That Be, Bill and Peter consider the V.P. debate through the Wall Street lens.

DYLAN BYERS

Brian Williams’ latest return to television—well, to streaming—is not only a first step toward a possible career revival, but also a potential harbinger of the future of cable news.

WILLIAM D. COHAN

Once the richest man in America, Ron Perelman has been humbled into a simpler life—selling off his art, backing away from philanthropy, winnowing MacAndrews & Forbes. So what happened over the past several years that caused his $20 billion personal fortune to go up in smoke?

RACHEL STRUGATZ

Estée Lauder’s latest stab at innovation is Balmain Beauty, a new partnership that attempts to revive a legacy brand and has debuted with an exceedingly large portfolio of products. Could it work? Well, it’s not Cartier, but it kinda has to.

JOHN HEILEMANN, PETER HAMBY & DYLAN BYERS

In a special post-debate collab, John, Peter, and Dylan review a deceptively non-pyrotechnic undercard: Walz’s uncertain start, the chameleonic J.D. Vance, the January 6 soundbites, and snap-poll aftermath.