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PREVIEW VERSION
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Wall Street’s Pardon Czar, Hong Kong’s Auction Threesome, P.E. Hits
Hollywood
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Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon compendium of Puck’s best new reporting.
Today, we lead with Leigh Ann Caldwell’s chilling inside account of how Republicans on Capitol Hill were caught flatfooted by Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, the early signs of resistance in the Senate, and how the president’s trade advisor, Peter Navarro, may have become the most influential man in Washington…
Plus, below the fold: William D. Cohan spotlights a head-spinning beneficiary of Trump’s white-collar pardon spree. Dylan Byers captures the 30 Rock cafeteria drama ahead of the NBC-MSNBC divorce. Rachel Strugatz chronicles a beauty industry Cinderella story. And for Inner Circle members, Marion Maneker assembles the auction
results from Hong Kong’s concurrent sales at Phillips, Sotheby’s, and Christie’s.
Meanwhile, on the pods: Matt Belloni rings up Hollywood insider Jon Liebman to examine the increasingly blurred lines between the town’s managers and agents—and how private equity has changed the representation world. And on The Powers That Be, Bill joins Peter Hamby to foreshadow the
downstream effects of Trump’s whirlwind tariffs on the financial markets.
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Leigh Ann Caldwell
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Yesterday, as Donald Trump unveiled his sweeping global tariffs in a Rose Garden ceremony dubbed “Liberation Day,”
Republican lawmakers found themselves caught in an information vacuum—receiving virtually no advance details about the White House’s economic magnum opus. Now, with the numbers clarified, Hill Republicans face the first true point of tension with the president. Despite the party’s public alignment with the Trump tariff strategy, the Senate passed a bipartisan bill to unwind the 25 percent Canadian tariff, with prominent Republicans Rand Paul, Susan Collins, Mitch McConnell, and Lisa Murkowski
breaking rank. Meanwhile, Democrats are on the attack, gaining ground in special elections and leveraging tariff data to push back against proposed tax cut extensions. As one House Republican confided, “If we get in a trade war, that’s when we have trouble.”
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William D. Cohan
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As the president’s pardon spree continues, his commutation of Ozy Media founder Carlos Watson’s 10-year prison sentence
has sent chills through Wall Street and the justice system. Last Friday, just hours before beginning his term for securities fraud, wire fraud, and identity theft, Watson was suddenly freed and also relieved of having to pay nearly $100 million in fines. Behind the scenes, Alice Marie Johnson, Trump’s recently appointed “pardon czar,” reportedly played an outsize role in securing Watson’s release. Though Trump has been mum on the subject, there’s reason to presume the president understood the
downstream effects of his commutations, including disrupting the future enforcement of white-collar crimes. Now, Wall Street is left to grapple with questions about how, and whether, to expose and prosecute future wrongdoing.
Read
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Dylan Byers
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A new wrinkle in the Comcast SpinCo saga emerged this week as NBC News re-upped its deal with Steve Kornacki. The
beloved analytics guru will keep taking his talents to NBCU’s broadcast and streaming offerings, while notably abandoning his presence at MSNBC. The move signals the uncomfortable reality for cross-platform talent caught between NBC’s well-financed media empire and the murkier destiny of the soon-to-be-independent linear cable bundle. Despite the optimism of SpinCo head Mark Lazarus, and the startup mentality of new chief Rebecca Kutler, MSNBC’s 600,000 total-day viewers make it difficult to
match the prestige of NBC’s marquee properties. As Dylan observes, uncoupling from a $140 billion conglomerate sets the liberal news network down a narrower and far more uncertain path in the years to come.
Read Now
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Rachel Strugatz
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From humble beginnings as a pandemic-furloughed Ulta Beauty employee, influencer Mikayla Nogueira has shattered industry
expectations with her new skincare brand, Point of View. Rachel hears the brand generated $1 million in online sales in its first seven minutes, and approached $3 million before selling out completely, leapfrogging other celebrity-backed brands like Bella Hadid’s Orebella, which managed only $350,000 in a similar time frame. POV’s success is also traceable to its primary investor, Imaginary Ventures, which sports a robust beauty portfolio, high-fashion connectivity, and
experienced leadership to boot. Now the brand faces logistical and distribution challenges due to its explosive demand. Perhaps a reunion with Ulta, Nogueira’s ex-employer, is in the cards?
Read Now
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Marion Maneker
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With the inaugural trifecta of Phillips, Sotheby’s, and Christie’s auctions concluded in Hong Kong, the sales showed an
intriguing tale of two markets. The $150 million sales total marked the lowest level in four years—a staggering two-thirds drop from the market’s 2022 peak of $438 million. Yet beneath the surface, some promising data signals emerged; nearly half of all sold works achieved prices within their estimated range, with another 29 percent exceeding expectations, suggesting consignors and buyers are finding renewed alignment on price. Although Christie’s outperformed its competitors in day sales and
dollar volume, the market’s resilience was evident across auction houses at the market’s high end, with top lots claiming 35 percent of total sales value. While Hong Kong’s art market remains significantly diminished from its peak, these concurrent sales may nod to the beginning of a more sustainable recovery.
Read Now
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Matthew Belloni
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Matt is joined by Brillstein Entertainment Partners C.E.O. Jon Liebman to discuss the difference between a manager and
an agent and how that has changed over the past 20 years. Jon also gives his thoughts on CAA’s lawsuit against Range Media Partners, the impact of private equity’s foray into the representation world, how the end of packaging agreements has affected the representation business, and the changing of the guard at WME and UTA.
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Peter Hamby
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William D. Cohan
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Bill Cohan joins Peter Hamby to chew over Trump’s whirlwind tariff announcements and their inevitable impact on the
financial markets. Then they dig into the president’s series of recent pardons for white-collar criminals, including disgraced Ozy Media co-founder Carlos Watson, and the broader implications for the criminal justice system.
Listen Now
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_01JQY8TBM8WK1S17JEZ54741WB.png "The Post-Liberation Day Hangover…")
_01JQY8TAGRHC17QQNPRBQYQ258.png "Carlos Watson’s Prison Break")
_01JQY8TB4SDRZB7S0TN2F9RH5H.png "An Ulta Cinderella Story")
_01JQY8TCC2YHT05R5T2P2R3CCE.png "Notes From the Hong Kong Threesome")
