Estée Succession, Netflix Money Games, Cuban on Kamala

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon guide to the best new work at Puck.

First up today, Dylan Byers chronicles the internal drama roiling CBS News in the aftermath of Tony Dokoupil’s semi-confrontational and undeniably awkward roundtable interview with author Ta-Nehisi Coates: the leaks, D.E.I. consultant debacle, and executive-on-executive violence. Is this whole affair being blown out of proportion?

Plus, below the fold: Bill Cohan details Bill Ackman’s latest activist target: his own alma mater. Rachel Strugatz identifies the Estée Lauder insider likely to succeed Fabrizio Freda as the conglomerate’s next chief executive. John Heilemann chats with Mark Cuban about the Trump-Elon alliance and Kamala’s “founder mode.” On Fashion People, Lauren Sherman plays an exclusive excerpt from her excellent new book, Selling Sexy. On The Town, Matt Belloni and Fergus Navaratnam-Blair debate the strange evolution of onscreen male characters in Hollywood. On Somebody’s Gotta Win, Tara Palmeri huddles up with Mark Leibovich to evaluate the likely ramifications of a second Trump administration. And on The Powers That Be, Matt joins Dylan to unpack Netflix’s controversial new compensation model.

DYLAN BYERS

Inside the totally predictable, somewhat absurd, and quasi-tragic fallout from Tony Dokoupil’s aggressive questioning of Ta-Nehisi Coates, the furious response inside CBS News, and the latest round of navel-gazing media existentialism.

WILLIAM D. COHAN

After a topsy-turvy year in both the public markets and his personal life, Bill Ackman has returned to a familiar activist target: his alma mater, its fiscal mismanagement, woke mind virus, and illiquid investment portfolio.

RACHEL STRUGATZ

There were apparently five contenders in the mix to succeed Fabrizio Freda as the next C.E.O. of The Estée Lauder Companies—including Jane, an heir to the Lauder fortune. But sources with close ties to the family and leadership team say another executive has the inside track, and might even be a shoo-in.

JOHN HEILEMANN

The opinionated dotcom billionaire offers his candid thoughts on the closing scenes of the presidential race: Kamala in “founder mode,” fears of another January 6, and Musk’s unholy union with Trump.